


Deleterious

by Cameo_Cat



Series: Demon AU [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Demon AU, Demons Are Assholes, F/M, Fluff, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 10:06:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23849413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cameo_Cat/pseuds/Cameo_Cat
Summary: It has been over a year since a wish left the demon Felix with a wonderful new life with his now steady girlfriend, Marinette. But happily ever after is farther away than he thought. Someone from his past is haunting him now and they are none too pleased with his newfound happiness. Now he needs to stop them before everything he worked for is taken away.
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Félix (PV)
Series: Demon AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1718566
Comments: 32
Kudos: 234





	1. Karma Comes Calling

All good things must come to an end. Whether they fade away slowly and you only notice years later and realize it is over or they end so abruptly and harshly it feels like something got ripped out of you in the process. Then there are the worst kind. When you know it is ending and you can’t do anything but brace for it. You’re falling and falling and falling further away from that happiness before you land hard at the end and that beam of joy is now blocked by reality.

That was Felix. Falling...falling...falling...forever. The light above him growing smaller and all he could do was scream before he slammed into the ground.

He bolted up right, sweat pouring off him. It took him a minute to catch his breath and remember where he was. He wasn’t stranded out in the cold, broken and alone. He was in his apartment. The plain blue walls illuminated by the TV he had left on.

Felix groaned as he stood up off the couch and switched the TV off. He strode into the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face. He looked so pale under the harsh fluorescent bulbs. He really needed to stop falling asleep in front of the TV. Not only was the position on the couch killing his neck but it always made him restless in his dreams.

Dreams he got far too often for his liking. He never had to worry about them when he was a demon because he never slept or he never slept long enough to have any.

He glanced at the clock next to his bed and sighed. It was almost six. He could grab another hour or so before he had to be back up again for school. He settled into bed and pulled out his phone to make sure his alarm was set. A picture of Marinette and him sharing an ice cream smiling back at him as he turned it on.

Marinette. Felix’s sweet, beautiful, hot-headed girlfriend. He couldn’t believe it had been over a year since they started dating. Over a year since he had met her and fallen in love with her. Over a year since a selfless wish had made him human so he could be with her. What a wonderful year.

How lucky could he be to have gotten such an amazing life? Felix knew there was nothing he had done to deserve it. Centuries he had spent help causing wars and provoking sin. Reaping souls and torturing humans to insanity. Senseless death and mayhem followed him like a plague. He created a few plagues too. Yet here he stood, fully human with the love of the kindest girl on the planet.

The first several weeks after Felix was made human was spent camping out on Marinette’s couch (and sometimes her bed). Being a former demon turned human he didn’t exactly have any paperwork or documentation that could prove he even existed. It took a lot of fast talking and convincing the government that he had been raised in a far off town by a couple of hippie anti-vaxxer parents that homeschooled him until he ran away from their abuse. After that had been all squared away he was able to apply for a lease on an apartment in the same building as Marinette’s. He had even reached out to Adrien’s photographer friend and ended up getting signed as a model to an agency that promised a good career with plenty of opportunities. He was attending school with Marinette and quickly made friends with her friends. He didn’t want to go at first but one bat of those baby blue eyes and Felix knew he would be attending every day.

His life was just so...normal. It was surreal how he had gone from flitting about as a paranormal entity to chilling at a cafe like a normal teenager in such a short time. Not that it hadn’t taken some getting used to. Despite living so long there were some things he didn’t know about the modern era and getting used to not having powers anymore was rough. He missed being able to just pop in and out of existence at will. Made traveling a lot easier when he could blink and be across town. Now he had to walk or get a bus or a train. Boring and tedious. And despite how gungho he was about starting a relationship with Marinette he still had a lot to learn about being a good boyfriend. She was patient with him and only snapped at him when he was being, admittingly, an asshole.

Felix Graham. Model. High school student. Boyfriend. Seventeen year old human. He had insisted on labeling himself at least a year older than Marinette just to tease her about dating an ‘older man.’ Marinette teased him back saying that for someone who was as old as the earth he had the same level of maturity as a seventeen year old.

He let out a yawn as he burrowed under the covers of his bed and got another blessed hour of sleep before his damn alarm clock chimed loudly to wake him again. He got ready for school and climbed the stairs up to Marinette’s apartment to have a quick breakfast before they set out for the day.

“Good morning, love,” Felix called to the apartment as he grabbed the orange juice out of the fridge. He poured himself a glass and started climbing the steps up to her room. “Marinette? Are you even up? Hello!”

“I’m up! Stop yelling!” Marinette shouted, pressing the door closed firmly as he tried to open it. “I’m getting dressed! Give me a minute!”

“Like it isn’t anything I haven’t already seen before.” Felix rolled his eyes and went back to sit at the kitchen island.

“You didn’t see anything!” Marinette sped down the stairs as she tugged her hair into two long pigtails. She had been letting it grow out and Felix had to admit he liked her with long hair. “I was covered by bubbles.”

“Still…” Felix grinned and Marinette playfully smacked his arm as she poured herself a cup of juice. “Love you.”

“Yeah, yeah, love you too.” Marinette kissed his cheek. “Sleep well?”

“Well enough.” he leaned on her heavily, “I could use a couple more hours though. Perhaps in a softer bed with an even softer companion.”

“We have school soon, no time for naps.”

“I mean we can be a little late…”

“No, mister,” Marinette smacked him with a blunt of her butter knife. “I let you talk me into being late last week for a quick nap and we ended up missing half the day.”

“Is it my fault you are so comfortable? I didn’t see you complaining at the time.”

“Only because I had pulled an all-nighter finishing the embroidery on a jacket. I am well rested today though. If you are not then that is your fault alone.” She handed him the nutella for his croissant, “Let me guess, you fell asleep on the couch watching TV again, didn’t you?”

“You know me so well.” he rubbed his neck, “Awful stiff this morning from it.”

“If you’re lucky maybe you can talk Adrien into giving you a neck rub during free period. Unless you want me to give you one.”

“Nope. Marinette, love, you are wonderful at many things but your massages are far from relaxing. I don’t get it, you spend all that time helping in the bakery kneading bread yet you can’t comfortably knead flesh.”

“We all have our shortcomings.” Marinette rolled her eyes. “I don’t give good massages. You can’t sing a lick.”

“Harsh, I’m not that bad.”

“Remember my sixteenth birthday party?”

“Happy birthday is not one of those songs that’s meant to be sung well.”

“Perhaps, but it helps.” Marinette finished her breakfast and grabbed her bookbag. “You ready?”

“If I must be.” Felix heaved his bag onto his own shoulder. “You owe me a nap after school though.”

“We’ll see,” Mariette laced her hand with his as they left the apartment.

At school things went by as they normally did. Break came and Felix all but pounced on Adrien asking him for a neck massage. Adrien agreed and they sat down in the hall. Soon enough a massage train was forming behind them. Marinette stood at the edge of the train kicking at the dust on the ground before Felix pulled her to sit in front of him.

“Can’t bruise anyone when you’re at the front.” Felix whispered as he started to rub her shoulders. “And it feels like you needed a massage too. Why are you so tense?”

“I don’t know…” Marinette sighed. She craned her neck backwards as far as it could go so she could see him. “I have this weird sinking feeling.”

“First real cold snap blew through this morning, maybe it’s just the oncoming winter. I know how much you love the look but you are not one for cold, that’s for certain.”

“I think I spent most of last winter napping the day away under a heated blanket.” Marinette chuckled. “I wouldn’t quite mind a nap after today. I don’t feel like digging out my heated blanket though, know anything else to keep me warm?”

“I can think of something.”

“Guys,” Adrien cleared his throat, “You do know you’re in public right?”

“Yes. I am aware.” Felix turned to look at Adrien with a sly smile, “Feeling left out, goldie? After I’m finished at Marinette’s I can always come over and cuddle you if you want.”

“Well…” Adrien pondered it for a moment.

“Adrien,” Marinette snapped her fingers drawing both boys attention to her, “Don’t go stealing my boyfriend. Cuddles are only for me.”

“So stingy.” Felix pinched her cheek. He turned back to Adrien clasping him on his shoulders. “One day, my darling, we shall be together!”

“I pray it comes quick!” Adrien clasped him in a similar fashion. It took everything in Felix not to laugh at their over the top display.

“That’s it,” Marinette wedged herself between them so she was planted in Felix’s lap. His arms encircled her waist automatically. “No more massages for you, mister. And Adrien, keep those wicked harlot hands off my boyfriend. I don’t need you casting a spell on him and stealing him away from me.”

“What do you want me to do? Wear gloves?” Adrien asked.

“Obviously.” Felix scoffed. He pretended to look scandalized. “What kind of a man are you? Have you no sense of decency? Never heard of the expression, ‘wrap it before you tap it?’ You go around giving everyone in class massages without any protection. Who knows what you’ve picked up!”

“And he has now devolved into STI metaphors.” Marinette stood up and tugged Felix off the ground. “I’m gonna get him out of here.”

Still betting he could embarrass the both of them Felix stretched out a hand dramatically as Marinette pulled him towards the library. “I forgive you, Adrien! I don’t care how many diseases you may have given me! Our love will flourish!”

“In!” Marinette shoved him inside the library where he was reluctantly forced to keep quiet. She shook her head as she plopped down at a table. “Have your fill of fun for the day or should I get you a spot on soap opera television?”

“You make fun but I would make an amazing soap opera star. Couldn’t you see me in that hazy soap opera lighting? Being resurrected for the tenth time after my character was thought to be killed half a season ago?”

“I think they would have killed you off more often than that.”

“Hey!” He was shushed by the librarian. He sat down next to Marinette and searched his bag for his book. “Strange, I swear I put it in here last night.”

“What are you looking for?”

“That copy of _The Black Cherry Bride_ you lent me. I could have sworn I put it back in my bag.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask, why are all the books you read YA novels meant for teenage girls?”

“I used to read a lot of classical works because those were the only ones anyone ever seemed to know anything about. I still enjoy reading them but they are also just so wordy and stiff at times. Young Adult books are lighter but with just enough conflict and angst so it isn’t boring. I can read through them quickly instead of dragging through them like when I read Hunchback of Notre Dame. I get it, architecture is nice and it needs to be sustained. Can we please get back to the corruption of the church already?”

“Cool down, devil boy.” Marinette eased him. “You probably just left it at home. Find something else to occupy your time.”

“First my homework, then my planner, and now my book. Everything is disappearing on me lately!”

“They have to be somewhere. You have a habit of throwing stuff wherever when you’re home. Clean and they’ll probably turn up.”

“I hope so.” Felix sighed.

After school was over Marinette and Felix headed home and settled down in her room for a promised nap. While she was quick to fall asleep Felix stayed awake thinking. He didn’t want to fall asleep and have another dream while he was with Marinette. She’s already a ball of stress with all the activities she does he doesn’t want to add to it for something as small as dreams.

They always ended the same way. It could start out normal enough and next thing he knew the ground underneath him would disappear. Next thing he knew he was falling and burning and screaming then wake up right before he hit the ground. Before they had been upsetting but now they were happening near every night and they felt more tangible. When he was woken up it took him a minute to distinguish his reality and remember he wasn’t laying in pain on the ground.

It felt like the universe was mocking him for all his happiness. He could pretend as much as he wanted but at the end of the day he was demon playing human. His dreams were a reminder of that.

He held Marinette a little tighter as he banished the thoughts from his head. He may not entirely deserve this life but he would be damned if he would be taken from it.

He did fall asleep for a bit but was woken up a half hour later when Marinette stirred. “No…” he moaned as she wiggled away from him and sat down at her desk. “Come back.”

“It was a nice nap but I need to do my school work before it gets too late.” She shrugged as she pulled her textbook out of her bag. “You should get started on your work too.”

“But it’s so boring.”

“Felix…”

“Fine.” he slumped out of bed and went down to his apartment to grab his work. He flipped the light switch but the room remained dark. Well this was just perfect. He reached for his phone and shined the flashlight around. Was the lightbulb burnt out?

He tried turning on a lamp but it merely flickered dimly before exploding. The tiny shards of glass went flying knicked Felix’s hand. Stupid cheap apartment wiring!

He ran back up to Marinette’s apartment and raided her bathroom for a few band-aids.

“What happened?” She asked when she saw him rush into her bathroom.

“The lightbulb in my table lamp exploded when I tried to turn it on.” Felix growled in frustration. “Also the overhead lighting isn’t working either. I think I’m gonna need to get an electrician in there.”

“Ah my poor baby,” Marinette went and helped clean and wrap his injured hand. She pressed a light kiss to it after she was done. “Feel better?”

“Much.” he grabbed her hands and brought them up for a small kiss. “But now I have to go back and try to sweep up the mess without any light.”

“I’ll come help.” She grabbed a flashlight and went down with him. Felix strode into the apartment shining his phone light around. He tried the overhead light again but it was still dead. “Felix…”

“Just shine it over there, love.” he grabbed the dustpan from the underneath the sink. “Be mindful where you step though. No sense both of us getting cut on glass.” He turned around and saw her frozen still in the doorway. “Love? You okay?”

She shook her head. There was a twinge of fear in her eyes as she scanned the dark room. “It feels bad.”

“What feels bad?”

“This place.” Marinette backed away out into the hall. “I can’t describe it. I don’t feel welcome in here. It feels like there’s some large animal watching and waiting to pounce on me for wandering into its den.”

_Isn’t she a perceptive one?_

The sudden voice jolted Felix. He couldn’t say whether he had actually heard it or if it was in his head but either way it struck him cold to the bone. Yet wrapped around him with familiarity.

He looked to Marinette and dashed out of the apartment shoving her farther away from it and locking the door behind him. He grabbed her and pulled her back upstairs as quickly as he could. He locked her door behind them as an extra precaution and collapsed on the couch.

“Felix? What was that?” Marinette asked. He noticed she was trembling slightly and pulled her to him.

He knew this had been too good to last. He was falling all over again and desperately held onto Marinette for a tether to reality. “Seems one of my former co-workers decided to pay me a visit.”

“Former co-worker? Are you talking about…?” Marinette pointed down.

“Unfortunately yes.” Felix spat, “Someone is haunting my apartment.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick note for this fic! This is part of a demon au and so there are also mentions of angels, God, Heaven, Hell, religion and so forth. So while a lot of what I portray is based in real world religion this is also still a fanfic in a universe vastly different from our own. Thus things will be made more dramatic and/or convenient for the sake of storytelling. Literally none of this is meant to be taken seriously. So I don’t want to see comments saying, ‘well actually…’ when I write something that doesn’t fit with real world practices.
> 
> Now that we’ve cleared that up please enjoy the story! Love ya!


	2. A Paranormal Infestation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix spends the night and all is not peaches and cream

Felix paced the living room as he tried to make sense of this new predicament. Someone was haunting his apartment. He didn’t know why. He didn’t know how long they had been there but it had to have been recent if there presence was only felt today. Even so it was Marinette that had felt it, not Felix. He chalked that up to being used to the aura demons gave off. Their presence wouldn’t alarm him like it would a normal mortal.

It also explained the stranger things that had been occuring. The lights, his stuff going missing, and quite possibly the increased realism of his dreams. “I feel so stupid!” Felix seethed, “I should have realized what was happening sooner!”

“How didn’t you?” Marinette asked. “I would have thought with your past that you would be able to pick up on this kind of thing.”

“Quite the opposite it seems.” Felix ran his hands through his hair. “I’m more concerned about how long they’ve been here. Marinette, was today the only day you found something wrong about my apartment? Any bad feelings before this? Maybe not as extreme?”

“I don’t think so.” She shrugged, “I mean, I’ve been suggesting that we hang out at my apartment more often. I think today was the first time I’ve set foot in your place in over a week.”

“Could be coincidence or it could be your natural human proclivity to avoid dangerous supernatural settings. Considering everything we know about me though I’m leaning towards the latter.”

“Why is this happening? Why now?”

“I don’t know. All I do know is that for the time being my apartment is not safe to inhabit. I’m hoping that whoever is haunting my place will leave now that I know they’re there. Still, it wouldn’t be wise to stay there tonight.”

“I’ll set up the couch for you.” Marinette stood and kissed his cheek, “I’ll let mom and dad know you’re staying over for however long you think this is gonna last.”

“Thanks, love,” he relaxed at her touch. “This sucks but I hope it won’t last long. Do you have any clothes I left here that I can wear tomorrow? I don’t feel like braving the apartment again.”

“Bottom dresser drawer. Also, don’t think that a demon haunting your apartment is going to stop you from doing your homework. You can use my textbook.”

“Aw come on!”

“No whining. I didn’t let a demon interfere with my grades so you certainly can’t let one interfere with yours.”

“See though, I was not outwardly malicious like this prick is being.”

“You were plenty annoying though.” She grabbed him and pushed him up towards her room. “But since you’re agitated I’ll go grab you some comfort eclairs. Okay?”

“You’re wonderful, you know that?”

“I know what you like. Get started on your work, I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Marinette sped out of the apartment to the bakery below.

Marinette’s parents didn’t question much about why Felix was staying over. He practically lived there as it is. After homework and dinner he started getting ready for bed. When not in front of her parents Felix and Marinette had been discussing possible identities of who was haunting Felix. His money was on it being a low level demon prick that thought it would be fun to annoy him. Marinette asked if he had any enemies during his demon days but he couldn’t think of anyone. He hadn’t really made it a point to talk to anyone he worked with outside of his bosses.

“I mean you said you knew some demon named Asmodeus. Could this be him?” Marinette called from her room.

Felix was in the bathroom brushing his teeth. “Azzy? No way. After my fifty years under his tutelage was over I never spoke to the guy again. I also doubt that one of the seven princes of Hell would personally be haunting me.”

“There is Hell royalty?”

“Sorta. Think of Hell as a corporate entity. Satan is the CEO that runs everything and then there are the managers of the different districts, then all of us lesser demons are the employees under the managers. Asmodeus is the district manager of Lust. When I was a demon I was primarily working under Mammon, head demon of Greed.”

“It is so weird hearing you talk about Hell like it is some kinda office space.”

“Have you ever heard someone who works in an office refer to it as anything other than a living hell? There’s a reason for that.”

“Uh huh, sure,” Marinette came into the bathroom, “You done yet?”

“Almost.” he grabbed the mouthwash. Marinette bumped him out of the way to make room in the mirror and started combing out her hair. Her eyes met his in their reflection and she smiled. “You should wear henleys more often.”

“You like this look?” he smirked as he undid the top button. “Getting hot in here, huh?”

“Oh yeah, so hot.” She rolled her eyes at him. “But you had better button back up cause you are not sleeping in my bed tonight mister.”

“You sure about that?” He undid another button.

“Two inches of sternum? Wow Felix, how thirsty are you?”

“I am dying of dehydration, love.”

“Such a shame.” She did the buttons up again and gave him a quick kiss. “I’m going to bed. You should too.”

“Can I at least have a pre-bedtime makeout?” Felix followed her out of the bathroom.

“No. Cause it starts as a quick makeout and then next thing I know you’re shirtless and lounging on my chaise.”

“So if I got shirtless we could makeout?”

“That was not the take away!”

“I didn’t hear a no though.”

“Felix,” Marinette pushed him towards the door, “You are sleeping on the couch tonight.”

“Fine.” Felix pouted and went down to relax on the couch. It had been worth a shot at least.

After a bit of tossing and turning to get comfortable Felix drifted off to sleep. A strange dream followed like all the other nights. He was taking a walk through the park and spotted a cherry tree in the distance, its branches filled with delicate pink blooms. He settled underneath it and took in the falling petals. Marinette would love this. Then the petals turned black. He looked at the tree and watched as it started to whither and rot before him. It’s roots eating away at the ground as well turning the entire park to a barren wasteland. The once lush green grass was yellowed and dead, cracking open and falling away. Felix fell through as the ground underneath him opened up. And he was falling once again into inky darkness. The sound of a voice taunting him from the void.

_So...pretty...so...pretty...so...pretty...so...easy…_

He jolted awake in a cold sweat. His hands still trembling as he gripped the blanket like a vice. The voice...the voice was new. He had heard it before he was sure. But where? Who was it? The answer itched close in his brain, the name so close he could almost see their face in his mind.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!”

“Marinette!” Felix was on his feet the name and face forgotten as he bolted to Marinette’s room. He slammed the door open and saw what she had been screaming at. A large black cloud like mass was hovering inches above her bed. “Get away from her!”

He ran at the entity but it disappeared into the air before he could get to it. Not that he knew what he would do if he could have done anything to fight it off. Marinette was quaking in her bed and Felix pulled her to him. “It’s alright, love. It’s gone. I’m here. I got you.”

“I couldn’t move.” She whispered as she clung onto him. Her face buried in his chest. “It was like I was paralyzed and all I could do was lie there waiting for it to eat me alive.”

A moment later her parents burst into the room asking what was wrong. Felix lied and told them that she had a nightmare. They brought her a cup of water before retiring back to their own room. “Here, love, drink. It’ll help.” Felix pressed the glass to her lips. She took a few gulps before handing the glass back to him. “There there,” He rubbed her back, “Feel better?”

“A little.” she mumbled.

“Want me to stay here?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Alright. As long as I’m here I won’t let anything like that come near you again.”

“Was it...was it the…”

“I believe so.” Felix sighed as he eased them back under the covers. “I am so sorry, Marinette. I thought that they were confined to my apartment. I had no idea they would follow me here.”

“Why was it in my room then if you were downstairs?” Marinette looked at him with those wide terrified eyes.

Felix had a feeling he knew why but he didn’t want to frighten her. “I don’t know,” he shrugged, “It is gone now. Relax, go back to sleep. I promise that nothing else will harm you tonight.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Cause I’m here. Nothing is going to happen to you as long as I’m here. I give you my word.”

Marinette leaned forward and kissed him. “Thank you. I love you.”

“I love you too. Now go to sleep.” It took a few minutes to ease her back into unconsciousness but once she was under she didn’t wake again. As for Felix he stayed awake for at least another hour scanning the room to make sure whoever had been there wouldn’t return before he fell asleep as well.

He didn’t have another dream and there was no more screaming that night but the few extra hours of sleep didn’t do much for their rattled minds. Felix was the first to rise and pulled the covers higher to hide him and Marinette from the world outside. It would be so easy to turn off her alarm and let them stay here all day. It was so tempting. But that would be delaying the inevitable and he needed to talk to her.

He let her have a few more moments of sleep as he breathed in the comfort of it all. “Marinette,” Felix brushed the hair out of her face, “You gotta wake up, love.”

“Hm?” She blinked her eyes open and rubbed the sleep away. “Is it time to get up already?”

“Unfortunately.” He kissed the top of her head. “Come on, get up. I don’t wanna be awake either but we have things to do.”

“Boo.” Marinette pouted. Felix smiled as a thought occurred to him. “What?” Marinette asked.

“You said I wouldn’t be sleeping in your bed last night and yet here we are.”

“For the love of--” Marinette smacked him with a pillow. “You did not smooth talk your way into my bed! I had a demon in my room!”

“You’ve had a demon in your room before so--ow!” Marinette continued with her pillow assault. “It was a joke! Stop hitting me with Sir Fluffers!”

“Felix!” Marinette stopped, the fight going out of her all at once. “I was really scared…”

Great! Now he felt bad for teasing her. “I know you were. And I am so sorry that happened to you. I thought whoever it was would stay in my apartment but I was wrong and I think I know why they came after you instead of me last night.”

“But you said--”

“You were already scared and I didn’t want to worry you.” Felix sighed, “Whoever is haunting me is trying to get at me, hurt me. First it was annoying nonsense like messing with my lights and hiding my stuff but last night I realized that this was worse than I thought. They’re not going after me directly anymore. They’re attacking what I care about. Coming near you they knew it would infuriate me more than if they came after me personally.”

Marinette went pale. “That’s not terrifying at all.”

“I wish there was something I could say to make you fell better but I don’t know what would be appropriate for something like this. Sorry my previous life as a demon has endangered you? They don’t exactly make cards for that.”

“I don’t need cards.” Marinette scoffed in an attempt to lighten the mood. “All I want is to help you get rid of this thing.”

“Thank you.” He kissed her again. “And seeing as how it is following me around the apartment building I don’t think I should stay here again tonight. It wants to get a rise out of me by knowing that you’re in danger so maybe I should just go back to my own apartment.”

“You can’t go back there!”

“I can’t stay here if I know whoever is messing with us is gonna come after you. At least down in my own place it’ll hopefully be content torturing me instead of coming after you. Besides, I had already been living with it and barely noticed it was there. I can survive a couple more nights.”

“And what? You think they’ll get bored and leave after a few nights?”

“That was my initial hope but I see now that whoever this is isn’t going to be going away any time soon.”

“What does that mean?”

“This isn’t like when I was bound to you and was bored all the time. True, demons can get bored very easily while on case but this one isn’t doing it for a contract. They’re doing it because they want me to suffer and trust me, when that is the motivation then demons can stick around for years. There was this man back in the 18th century I think that I followed around for five years messing with him cause I thought he was annoying and watching him slowly devolve into insanity was hilarious to me.”

“Geez, Felix,”

“I have not shied away from telling you the effed up things I did as a demon. I think following a jerk around to drive him insane for years is not as bad as creating the bubonic plague.”

“You created the bubonic plague?!”

“I didn’t tell you that one?”

“YOU CREATED THE BUBONIC PLAGUE!”

“It was the 1300’s! I had scored an internship with Pestilence and they wanted to see what I could do. So I took out this old file about a plague back in the sixth century did a little working with it, put it on a flea and released it to the world. Seven years and almost two hundred million deaths later and Pestilence is taking all the credit for the Black Death and I’m shoved off onto Mammon so I won’t replace Pestilence as one of the four horsemen.”

Marinette stared at him for a solid thirty seconds before getting out of bed and heading downstairs. “Marinette?” He called after her. “Was that too much information? Do you need time to process? Marinette? Love? Light of my life?”

No answer. Felix got out of bed as well and joined her at breakfast. “Marinette?”

“Don’t.” Marinette shoved a croissant in his mouth. “Just don’t.”

“Still love me?”

Marinette handed him the jar of nutella. “Yeah. I still love you. Even if you did release a disease that killed literally millions of people.”

“I have had a lot of growth away from that sort of thing in the last eight centuries since then.”

“God you’re old. How is someone as old as you so immature?”

“Just part of my charm. Besides, looking back on it now I would not want to be the horseman of pestilence. They were really dirty and always smelled kinda funky.” Felix could practically smell their B.O. even now it had been so pungent. “I didn’t mind so much back then because I was going through a grunge phase but now I’m relieved. It was actually Mammon that got me into enjoying the finer things in life and taking better care of myself. Because in his words: _‘I am not letting you go out and make contracts looking like you just pulled yourself out of a mud puddle. So either clean up your image or I’m sending you to work under Abaddon for the next five centuries.’_ And I really wasn't the kind of demon that thrives in the circle of sloth so I cleaned myself up.”

“Felix.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re piling a lot more information on that I don’t know if I am ever going to be able to process.”

“Right. Sorry. You know what happens once I open the flood gates--”

“It is hard to turn off. I get it. Eat your croissant before we’re late for school. We’ll find a way to handle this demon business after class cause you are not staying in your apartment.”

“I can handle a few nights--”

“You are not staying in your demon infested apartment!” Marinette growled at him.

Oh crap, she’s hot when she’s mad. Don’t engage, Felix. Do not poke the dragon. He swallowed back the primal urge to pin her to the wall for a makeout session and nodded instead. “Yes, love. As you wish.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to update. I wanted to update FBoW before I spit out another entire multi-chapter fic. Updates will come faster now. Thank you for the love and patience!


	3. The Price to Be Paid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix has a lot of problems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, did this chapter as well as this entire story go through a huge rewrite! Will explain more at the end.

School was more of a chore than usual. Neither Felix nor Marinette particularly wanted to be there given the events of last night had put them on edge. Marinette was looking up ways to drive off demons on her phone while Felix compiled a list of anyone that might have been holding a grudge against him. It was both a long and short list as there were many people he knew that didn’t like him but none that he could single out as to hate him so much they would come and haunt him.

Even more so Marinette kept trying to insist he stay at her place again and Felix said that he would absolutely not if there was a chance it brought the demon back.

“Hey,” Adrien approached their table with his lunch, “Is this good-natured arguing or should I sit somewhere else while you quarrel.”

“No. You can sit.” Felix told him. “Marinette and I were just having a conversation on sleeping arrangements.”

“It’s been over a year since you two started dating and you haven’t figured out who gets big spoon?”

“I’m big spoon the majority but that’s not what Felix meant,” Marinette answered. “What brings you to our table for lunch? I thought you and the other guys were spending your lunches trying to create the best so bad it’s good weird food combination.”

“Kim ate a tuna and peanut butter sandwich last time and got sick so the nurse put the shut down on our experiment so I thought I would switch it up.”

“Sitting with your ex-girlfriend and your mistress, that is a baller move.”

“Felix, no one says baller anymore.” Marinette sighed.

“And did you just refer to yourself as my mistress?” Adrien looked at Felix confused.

“Yeah. Is that weird?” Felix asked.

“I don’t know. Marinette, is that--”

“Yes.” Marinette shook her head in dismay. “The repertoire between you two concerns me at times but I have bigger things to worry about other than the fact that my boyfriend is having a pseudo-affair with my ex.”

“Are you two okay?” Adrien stopped playing and looked at them more concerned, “Cause, I say this with all the love in the world, you look like crap.”

“Tiring night.” Marinette sighed and laid her head down on the table.

“Felix?” Adrien looked at him.

“There’s a demon in my apartment.” Felix rubbed Marinette’s back. “And they are not the best guest.”

“Old friend visiting?”

“Whoever it is is not my friend and last night they came after Marinette. We’re trying to figure out how to get rid of them before tonight because this one refuses to let me sleep there until it is gone and I can’t stay at her place in case it follows me and attacks her again. I also spent my last paycheck on new shoes so I can’t really afford a hotel right now.”

“Did you want to come stay at my place?” Adrien offered. “We have a guest bedroom you can crash in for a couple days.”

“That would be great!” Felix breathed a breath of relief, “And you’re sure your hardass dad is gonna allow that?”

“He’s not that bad.”

“Adrien, sweetie,” Marinette looked at him, “He has a stick up his butt the size of a street lamp.”

“And that’s coming from Marinette.”

“So he’s a bit of a prick, but--” Adrien leaned forward with a devious little grin, “--seeing as how you’re technically also a co-worker with rising fame he can’t say no in the off chance you bash his non-existent hospitality online.”

“You’re gonna blackmail your dad with bad press if he doesn’t give me the spare bedroom?” Felix felt a surge of pride well up in him. “I knew there was something of a rebellious teenager in you somewhere.”

“What can I say?” Adrien shrugged, “You’re the best bad influence I’ve ever had. Except for maybe that time when Marinette and I were dating and she snuck me out of the house for a midnight movie screening that ended up being a couple of our friends on a roof with a poorly hung projector screen.”

“It was all fun and games until you were trying to sneak back inside and almost got busted by your own security. I was watching helplessly from the gate praying that he wouldn’t get caught. It was the most stressful experience ever.”

“How do you think I felt? It was so nerve-racking hiding behind that plant!”

The three of them laughed and Marinette and Adrien launched into a stroll down memory lane of shenanigans. Felix took a moment to sit back and watch his friends. Their lives had been so easy before all of this. Before he had ever shown up. As selfish as he wanted to be because his meeting them led to this great new life it had put them in danger again. This demon in his apartment was exactly what he was worried about when he was first spending time with Marinette and after he had left he didn’t need to worry about her anymore. Had he been dumb enough to believe that he would be left in peace in this idyllic new life without any repercussions? He joked about it but the guilt ate away at him every day. The lives he ruined and reaped. The lives he took. He wasn’t ever sure Marinette completely understood that his past wasn’t just a moment in her history book that he had been around for. He caused so much death and destruction and heartache while serving Hell. He was the last person to deserve this new life.

_How true…_

Felix shot out of his chair whipping his head around for the source of the voice but of course, there was no one but the school crowd.

“Felix?” Marinette grabbed his hand. “Are you okay?”

“I um…” Felix pulled his hand away from her. “I need to use the bathroom. Be right back.”

He rushed out of the cafeteria clutching his head. “Get out. Get out. Get out!” he whispered harshly. He locked himself in one of the bathroom stalls. “Who are you? What do you want?”

No answer.

Felix felt like he was going insane with all of this and it had only been one day. That was the third time he swore he had heard a voice. What if this demon wasn’t just hanging around him? What if it had already tethered itself to him? It wouldn’t matter where Felix went then, it would always follow. If it was tethered to him long enough then it may even possess him. He needed to find a way to get rid of it before that happened.

After school let out Felix had to run to a photoshoot. Marinette decided to stay back this time to catch up on some work. Normally he would have pouted about her absence but the further she was away from him the safer. He needed some time to himself to think about what he was going to do in the case that the worst should happen. If he ended up being possessed and hurt Marinette then he would never forgive himself.

He got a call from Adrien on his way back to the apartment confirming that he had managed to talk his dad into letting Felix stay over for a couple of days. At least that was one less problem to worry about. Felix snuck into his apartment and packed a bag to take over to Adrien’s. Before he left he looked back at the quiet apartment. He didn’t feel anything bad but that didn’t mean nothing was there.

“I don’t know who you are and I don’t know what you want but I suggest you leave now before this gets ugly.” He said to the empty room. “Why do I expect to get an answer?”

He left the apartment and went up to say bye to Marinette before he headed to Adrien’s. “Do you really think staying at Adrien’s is going to keep the demon away from you?” Marinette asked.

“We can only hope.” He kissed her. “I’ll call you tonight before bed.”

“And you try to go to bed at a decent time.” She poked his chest. “I know how you are but it is a school day tomorrow and you need the rest.”

“I promise I’ll try to be in bed early.”

“Good.”

“One more thing,” Felix said, “If anything does happen tonight then I want you to call me immediately. Okay?”

“I will. Promise.” She hugged him once more. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school.”

“See you tomorrow, love.” He hugged her back and gave her one final kiss before heading to Adrien’s.

Felix had been to Adrien’s house before but he could never quite get over how unnaturally silent it was. Back home he was used to the sounds of traffic or customers in the bakery filling the void. Here there was nothing but the sounds of your own breathing and the occasional tapping of feet. Despite all that Felix enjoyed his time at Adrien’s place. They hung out for a while before dinner and then retired to their rooms.

Felix called Marinette to tell her goodnight before he went to bed. “You know, I was thinking,” Felix said, “Once this was all over we need to go on a celebratory date.”

“Do we now?” Marinette laughed. “And what exactly would this celebratory date entail?”

“I was thinking ice skating or I could try cooking dinner again.” He shrugged, “Something we don’t do that often.”

“Oh yes, because your first attempt at making dinner had been such a masterpiece.” Marinette teased. 

“You burn one duck and suddenly my cooking skills are a joke. Besides, your mom was kind enough to come over and help me make something edible out of it so I am still calling that one a win.”

“Well if you make me dinner again how about something a little less complicated then duck?”

“Lobster?”

“Oh yeah, like you can afford lobster on your salary.”

“I can too!”

“So does that mean you’re going to cut back on clothes shopping to purchase a grand lobster dinner? Cause we both know that’s the only way you’re gonna be able to afford it.”

“That is a tough one. Do you even like lobster?”

“Dunno. Never had it.”

“And I’ve never prepared it. Seems we’ll both be trying something new.”

“Can’t wait for the Chef Felix to make me Lobster Thermidor.”

“Only the best for my girl.” Marinette yawned and he took that as his cue to say goodnight. “I should let you get your beauty sleep. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

“Alrighty then, talk to you tomorrow. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Felix smiled, “Sweet dreams, love.”

He finished getting ready for bed and hopped into bed. He was having a hard time falling asleep as his mind kept drifting back to Marinette.. Hopefully she’d be safe tonight without him there.

_“Felix.”_

_The voice was soft._

_“Felix, wake up.”_

_Felix sat up and noticed Marinette standing at the foot of his bed. What was she doing there?_

_“Don’t fret.” Marinette’s voice didn’t sound quite right. Something about her being there and the way she talked sent shivers down his spine. “I only came to tell you your debt is paid.”_

_Debt? What debt? What was she talking about?_

_“Oh Felix,” Her eyes were swallowed in black as a grin stretched unnaturally wide across her face, “Did you really think you could get this perfect life without paying? You know that everything comes with a price. This is yours.”_

_The ground underneath them started to shake and crack. Felix scrambled out of the bed to grab Marinette as more cracks started to form under her. The ground split open in front of him separating them. No! Marinette!_

_The split came for her and opened wide. The blackness left her eyes just as she fell through into the burning abyss below. Her screams echoing in his ears as he watched her grow smaller and smaller, her hands outstretched helplessly towards him._

Felix woke again with sweat pouring off him. His eyes scanned the room but nothing had changed. It was all intact and there was no Marinette insight. These nightmares had gone from annoying to horrifying so fast.

He reached for his phone and grimaced. Three AM. He didn’t want to wake her but he needed to hear her voice after that experience. The phone rang and rang but there was no answer. He tried again and there was still no answer. “Please, love,” Felix sent her a text begging her to call him. Minutes crawled by but again there was no reply. No indicator that she had even read the text. His anxiety started to mount as he tried numerous more times calling her before he gave up and dialed the home phone. He had to call twice before someone answered.

“Hello?” Sabine yawned into the phone.

“It’s Felix, I am so sorry to call you this late but I need to talk to Marinette right now and she’s not picking up her phone.”

“Why? Is something wrong, dear?” Sabine asked, her groggy half-asleep voice now laced with concern.

“I don’t know. I just need to talk to her.” Felix said.

“Alright, I’ll go wake her. Don’t stay up too late talking though since you two have school--” The line went quiet. He could hear her softly calling for Marinette on the other end of the line. “Tom!” Sabine shouted. “Marinette’s missing!”

Felix’s blood went cold. No...this wasn’t happening. Felix put the phone on speaker so he could hear them as he quickly threw on some clothes. Tom and Sabine were scouring the entire apartment but Marinette was nowhere to be found. Felix said he would be right over and hung up. He ran to Adrien’s room and quickly shook him awake.

“Felix?” Adrien looked at him, “Why are you--”

“Marinette is missing.” This got his attention and he flung the covers back to stand. “I called her house and she is missing. Her parents can’t find her anywhere in the apartment. I need you to start calling people and figuring out if any of them know where she is. I’m heading over to see her parents now.”

“I will but Felix before you go,” Adrien stopped him, “Does this have to do with the demon in your apartment?”

“I hope not but I’m afraid it may be.” Felix ran for the door. “I’ll let you know if anything changes.”

Felix dashed out of the house and ran as fast as he could to Marinette’s place. He scrambled into his apartment to make sure she wasn’t there before he was pounding on the Dupain-Cheng’s door. Sabine opened it and pulled him inside. It was clear she had been crying. Tom was in the corner on the phone talking to the police.

Felix sat down on the couch with Sabine. Felix was on his own phone calling his friends to make sure she wasn’t with any of them but of course, she wasn’t. The police showed up shortly after Tom got off the phone with them. There was no sign of a struggle in Marinette’s bedroom so it didn’t look like she had been taken but then again if she had left of her own accord why didn’t she take her phone, wallet, or keys? From the look of things, it didn’t even seem like she had changed clothes or put on shoes.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng had disappeared into thin air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, this hadn't got updated for a long while because what I had planned was not sitting well with me. It was honestly kinda boring and fillery until like chapter seven. I wasn't happy with it so I did the only rational thing and deleted the entire story I had originally planned and spent two hours rewriting something else that I like much better. We got a new narrative that thankfully did not need any rewriting of the first two chapters. So yeah. Much more excited about this and cannot wait to update again!
> 
> Thank you for your patience! Love ya!


	4. Ain't No Rest for the Wicked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix: Willing to literally go to Hell and back for his girl

The investigation and search for Marinette Dupain-Cheng was in full swing. Her disappearance made the news as anyone with any information about her whereabouts was encouraged to come forward. The police were baffled by the complete lack of evidence that could lead them to the missing girl. Everyone Marinette had ever come in contact with before was called and questioned with no new leads.

Everyone at the school felt her disappearance. It felt so wrong that her chair was just empty. The haunting implication that it may stay that way if she wasn’t found soon. Back at the bakery was even worse. Sabine and Tom had closed down for the time being. The once bustling and happy bakery now dark and empty while the owners sat above in their house waiting for any information about their daughter.

As for Felix...the guilt was eating him alive. He knew what must have happened. He knew who was responsible for all of this heartache and worry. But he couldn’t just tell his girlfriend’s parents that their daughter had been abducted by a paranormal entity. None of this would have ever happened if it wasn’t for him. He should have never gone back to her when he was made human. He should have run as far in the other direction and stayed out of her life. Then she would be safe. Then she would be home with her family and her friends and wouldn’t be god only knows where!

The stress and guilt kept him awake at night. Tossing and turning unable to sleep a wink cause he was too scared of what may have happened to Marinette. After almost three days of no sleep, Felix passed out in the hallway at school. He was taken into another dream.

_Felix stood in the middle of a frozen tundra. The freezing wind biting harshly at his skin as he stumbled forward searching for warmth. He kept going when he spotted something jutting out from the otherwise flat land. He shuffled forward faster as the structure became more clear._

_It looked like a person hunched against the cold like him. Hello? Who were they? How had they gotten here?_

_The person stiffly turned their head and Felix breathed out in relief._

_Marinette! He ran for her calling her name over and over. He closed his arms around her. She was even colder than him._

_“F-F-Felix?” Her words were stuttered with a shiver, barely heard through her blue lips._

_I’m here, love, I’m here. He tried to rub some warmth back into her. Let’s go! We need to get you back home!_

_“I c-c-can’t m-move” Marinette looked down. Her feet were covered in ice up to her ankles. Felix tried to pull her free but the ice stuck good._

_Don’t worry! I’m gonna get you out of here! You’re gonna be fine._

_“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” the new voice pierced through his mind. It was the same voice he had been hearing at school and in his apartment._

_No..._

_“Hello again, Belial.”_

_My name is Felix!_

_“Change your name all you want it does not change what you are. The Worthless.”_

_Let Marinette go! She’s an innocent!_

_“It seems you’ve forgotten, Worthless. They are all innocent until one of our kind gets involved. And look how involved you’ve gotten.”_

_I am not one of you! Not anymore!_

_“How human of you. Do you think you can ever be forgiven for everything you’ve done? All the death and destruction you’ve caused? You think falling in love with a human can erase what you are? What you became? You don’t deserve what you have. You know for yourself you don’t.”_

_Shut up!_

_“You wanted this human life but we know all deals come with a price. An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. A life for a life.”_

_Not Marinette’s life!_

_“So a different life would suffice? What about the life of that human that granted you this life? I believe his name is Adrien.”_

_No! Leave my friends alone! Leave all of us alone!_

_“That is your problem, Worthless. You say you are changed. You say you are human but you remain anything but. You want to have everything without sacrificing anything. If it were a stranger’s life we took in exchange for yours then you would not be crying and begging like you are now. All lives are equal until it comes to one that you care for more. That’s why you fell before, Belial. Valuing one life more than all others.”_

_Marinette had disappeared from Felix’s grasp. No! Marinette!_

_“Enjoy your life, Belial the Worthless.”_

Felix woke with a start. He gazed all around and was surprised to find himself in the nurse’s station. What...how did he end up here?

“Oh good, you’re awake.” The nurse came over. “You gave everyone a right scare passing out like you did. I’m sending you home to get some proper rest.”

“No. No, no, no!” Felix pulled himself to standing. “I need to get her back. I need to get her back before it’s too late.”

“Oh you poor dear,” The nurse sighed, “I heard about what’s happened to your friend, Marinette. You must be worried but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take care of yourself. The police will bring her home in no time but for right now you should go home and get some rest. Everything will be okay in time.”

Felix was escorted out of the nurse’s station with orders to go home immediately. As soon as the nurse was out of sight he went to find Adrien. He was the only one that knew about any of this demon business. Now that Felix knew for certain who had taken Marinette he needed to find some way to bring her back.

He charged into the classroom and grabbed Adrien. Hauling him back out the door to the confusion of the rest of the class. “Felix! What is going on?” Adrien shouted, “I thought you were passed out in the nurse’s station. You need to go home--”

“I am not going anywhere.” Felix dragged Adrien into the library and pushed him into a chair. “I know where Marinette is and I need your help getting her back.”

“Wait--what?! You know where Marinette is? WHy haven’t you said anything?”

“Because I was in denial but after I passed out I had another dream that let me know exactly where she is. She’s not coming back on her own and I need to get her before she’s lost forever.”

“Where is she?”

“Hell.”

“Marinette is in Hell?”

“Yes.”

“Like...actual living Hell. The place with the devil and where all bad people go to burn? That Hell?”

“Unfortunately so.”

“Okay.” Adrien was quiet for a minute. “So...how are we supposed to get her back? The transit doesn’t exactly have a departure time for literal Hell, Felix.”

“Well when I was a demon it was as simple as just poofing in but I don’t have my powers anymore. We need something or someone with that kind of ability or knowledge.”

“What about Juleka?”

“Juleka?”

“Yeah, I mean, she knows a lot of occult stuff. She gave Marinette the symbol that ended up summoning you the first time. If anyone could possibly know then it would have to be her.”

“Better than nothing. Let’s go get her.” Felix turned to go back to the classroom.

“Uh Felix,” Adrien ran up to him, “Not that I don’t want to help Marinette as soon as possible but even if Juleka can send you to Hell to rescue her you are in no fit state to do so. You passed out earlier and you’re swaying all over the place.”

“But--”

“No. I will talk to Juleka and explain everything. You go home and get some rest. I will come to you personally the second we think we’ve found something. Okay?”

“I can’t let her suffer down there, Adrien.”

“We will get her back but you really need to get some sleep. I am begging you, go home and go to bed.”

“You promise you’ll come get me the second you have something?”

“I promise.”

“No waiting for me to wake up either. The second you find something--”

“I will. Now go!” Adrien shoved him towards the door. Adrien kept an eye to make sure he actually returned home before going back to class.

Felix didn’t want to go back to sleep but knew that Adrien was right. He was n use to anyone like this. He collapsed onto his bed and was out like a light. There were no dreams this time which was welcomed. He was woken up several hours later by Adrien.

“Hm?” He stretched awake. “What is it? What have you found?”

“Feeling better?” Adrien asked.

“Yes, I’m fine. What did you find?”

“Well I talked to Juleka and after I convinced her that you were really a demon and that Marinette was trapped in Hell she said she’d help us. We’ve been pouring over dozens of sources trying to find something and Juleka thinks she has something that can send someone that has been touched by demonic powers to Hell.”

“Great. What do we need to do?”

“Juleka is grabbing the materials we need and then she’ll be over.”

Soon after Juleka arrived with Rose trailing behind her. Both their arms loaded with materials. “Hey Felix.” The girls greeted him.

“Hi.”

Juleka looked him up and down. “So you were really a demon?”

“Yep.”

“Rad.”

“I’m gonna start drawing the circle.” Rose announced as she and Adrien pushed Felix’s couch out of the way to make more room.

“You brought your girlfriend?” Felix asked.

“She’s better at drawing seance circles than I am.” Juleka shrugged. “So like, how old are you exactly?”

“Physically? Seventeen. Literally? As old as time itself.”

“Seriously?”

“Well...give or take a couple hundred years. The earth was already well underway when I was created.”

“And you don’t think it’s weird that someone literally as old as the earth is dating a sixteen year old?”

“Well I have the maturity of twelve year old if that helps any.”

“I don’t think it does.”

“Done!” Rose stood up. A seance circle drawn on Felix’s floor in chalk. Candles were place around it and lit.

“Are you sure you want to do this? This is a one-way trip. So even if it does work in getting you there we have no way to get you back.” Adrien asked. “Maybe there’s another way to get Marinette back.”

“There isn’t. I got her into this and I am gonna get her out.” Felix stepped inside the circle. He gave Juleka the thumbs up and she pulled out a large and very old looking leather-bound book.

“Here’s hoping this works.” Juleka started reciting from the book. The circle around him started glowing. Rose and Adrien were ducked behind the couch watching as Juleka kept going.

All the candles around were fluttering madly growing in intensity. Then the room went dark. Felix stood still. Only the faint glow of the circle underneath him providing light to the otherwise pitch-black room before that too was snuffed out.

Then Felix was falling. The ground underneath him was no longer there and he was hurtling through the blackness. The air around him started to burn and he screamed as it blistered his skin. _Not this...not again! Please not this!_ He thought fearfully as similar memories surfaced.

Further and further he fell. The heat growing stronger still as it burned everything away and Felix blacked out. The last conscious thought he had was of bright blue eyes. He was coming, Marinette. Hold on a bit longer. He was coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all those who read and leave kudos and comments! Makes my day! Love ya!


	5. Powder Pink in Seas of Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix is in Hell. Literally. And his old bosses are not going to make his rescue mission easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some suggestive imagery incoming

_“Oh, I apologize, I hadn’t seen you, sir.” A clear voice filled with warmth wrapped around his brain._

_“The fault was mine, good lady.”_

_“You look familiar, sir. Have I met you before?”_

_“I have not had the pleasure, unfortunately. What is your name, good lady? If it is not too forward to ask?”_

_“My name is…”_

**CRUNCH!**

Felix was brought back to life with an excruciating amount of pain. He lay curled on the rough ground as he tried to breathe through the pain. His whole body was tingling and sizzling in the aftermath of the fall. When he was able to bear with the pain more he opened his eyes and looked around at where he had landed.

All around him looked like what was a giant parking lot that stretched on and on in all directions. Pale figures that shimmered in the heat shuffled about not paying any attention to Felix. Off in the distance he could spot a large building poking out across the otherwise flat landscape.

There was no doubt about it. He was back in Hell. He had so hoped he had seen the last of this place when he became human.

It took a few attempts but he eventually pushed himself to his feet and started edging his way towards the skyscraper in the distance. Walking by, some of the souls would turn to look at him with vacant eyes but other than that no one paid any mind to him. Good. He needed to get as far as he could before anyone noticed he was there.

The closer he got to the building the more the souls around him took notice of him. Like they could smell the life on him and wanted to siphon it for their own. He started moving faster until he was in a full sprint towards the doors of the building. He flung them open and rushed inside before slamming them shut again. The vacant and desperate of the souls trapped in limbo outside uselessly clawing at the glass doors.

Felix let out a small breath of relief before he turned around and was met with the many questioning and shocked faces of a group of demons. Maybe he could bluff his way out of this. He had been a demon for centuries after all. He straightened out his appearance and rolled his shoulders back as he proceeded slowly towards the elevator at the other end of the lobby.

He was halfway across the lobby when a hand clamped down hard on his shoulder. “So close,” he whispered before turning towards whomever had grabbed him. “Can I help you?” He asked the demon behind him.

“You don’t smell right.” The demon scowled. “Who are you? Where did you come from?”

“I was just on the human plane collecting on a contract. That’s what you must be smelling.” Felix removed their hand from him, “Now if you are done wasting my time about how I smell I need to get this contract filed.”

“He doesn’t seem very demonic to me.” One of the other lingering demons started to circle him. “Are you new or something?”

“No, I--” Felix was cut off as other demons started to crowd around questioning him. He was losing control of the situation fast. He didn’t have time for this! He needed to find Marinette! He made a break for the elevator dodging out of the grasp of the other demons. Need to get to the elevator! He just needed to get in the elevator!

He was less than five feet from the doors when he was tackled to the ground. “Damn it!” He hissed as he clawed to get out from underneath their hold. More demons came up pinning him to the ground. One cut into his arm drawing blood. No!

“He bleeds!” The demon that cut him shrieked. “He’s not a demon! He’s a human!”

“And he’s alive.” The demon that tackled him growled. “How did you end up down here, pretty boy?”

“Alright everyone,” A new voice joined the mix and Felix’s blood ran cold. That voice...the voice! The demons parted as a new demon approached. She had blue hair and frigid blue eyes to match. Dressed in torn black jeans and a well worn blue hoodie she shouldn’t have looked as intimidating as she did. “Break it up. I’ll take care of it from here.”

The other demons grumbled as they reluctantly let Felix go leaving him alone with the blue demon girl. Felix stood to his feet clutching his arm to stave off the bleeding. “Hello Lillith. You still go by Lillith?”

“Belial.” Lillith sneered. “How did you ever manage to get here?”

“Oh you know, I asked the bus driver to make a side stop a little out of their way. I also prefer to be called Felix nowadays if you don’t mind. Can I still call you Lily Pad or did I lose that privilege?”

The two stared at each other. The hatred in her eyes was overwhelming. “You are a fool, Belial. You should not have come here.”

“And leave my girlfriend in the hands of the forces of Hell? I may not be the perfect boyfriend but I know letting her rot in Hell will definitely make me lose points in her favor. So how about you hand her over now before I start tearing this place apart.”

“I just took her. I don’t have her.” Lilith rolled her eyes, “And I think I speak for everyone when I say we would love to see your powerless human form try and get her. I’m honestly surprised you got past limbo.”

“So what happens now? We fight?” Felix asked.

“Oh no, boss man saw you running across the parking lot and told me to make sure you made it to the elevator in one piece.” She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards the elevator. “Apparently he wants to see just how far you can get before you break.”

“Lillith, my little Lily Pad,” Felix laughed, “I’m just as old as you. I know this place like the back of my hand. Just because I don’t work here anymore doesn’t mean I’m going to be broken that easily.”

“You forget that you’re a human now, Belial. That puts you at a disadvantage you hadn’t had before.”

“Because I don’t have my powers?”

“No.” She smirked as the doors started to close. “You have guilt.” The doors slid shut and so began the slow climb.

Guilt? What did that child abductor mean by guilt?

The elevator pinged as it stopped. Looks like he was gonna have to do this one floor at a time. Floor one: Lust.

He stepped out of the elevator and felt his body go uncomfortably warm. The room was a deep red with dim lighting so it was hard to see where he was heading. Instead of desks and cubicles like one might see in a normal office this floor had nothing but cushioned sofas littered about with succubi and incubi lounged in different levels of nudity. A lot of repressed memories were starting to surface being back in this section of the building.

Felix wasn’t sure what he was looking for other than Marinette. If she was even on this floor. He didn’t want to call out in case of attracting more attention to himself than was necessary.

Then out of the corner of his eye he spotted something pink against all the red. A pink chaise lounge like the one in Marinette’s room. He started walking towards it. What was this doing here?

“Felix?” A head popped over the back of the chaise. Bright baby blue eyes peering at him in wonder and relief.

“Marinette?” He found her!

“Felix!” she shot up and jumped over the chaise to hug him. “I knew you’d find me.”

“Of course I did.” Felix looked down at her. His eyes traveled further down from her face as he took in the rest of her. She wasn’t wearing her pajamas anymore. Instead she was dressed in a gauzy powder pink nightie that left very little to the imagination. “Oh wow,” he forced himself to look away. “They uh...they dress you up?”

“Yeah…” she played with the thin material. “I kinda like it actually all things considered. What about you?”

“Yes--no--I mean, it looks very nice but um you probably want to change. Here, you can have my jacket and…” The words were stuck in his mouth as Marinette started running a hand up under his shirt. “Okay, I think that is enough.” He pushed her hand away. “I know this place kinda messes with the head but we have got to keep a clear mind. Do not let this place take over your hormones, love.”

“You know,” She looped her arms around his neck. “I really like it when you call me love. Do you know how much I love being called love?”

“You can tell me how much later when we--” She cut him off with a deep kiss. “Okay, that was nice but--” She kissed him again, more insistent this time. She tasted so sweet. His lips started moving of their own accord as he kissed her back.

He felt himself being pushed back onto the chaise with Marinette in his lap and both still connected at the mouth. Her hands were running through his hair in the way she knew he liked. The soft yet firm press of her lips against his driving all rational from his head. There was something he was supposed to be doing but he couldn’t for the life of him think what when she was kissing him like this.

Her hands left his hair and slid their way down to his shoulders to shrug off his jacket. Those same hands quickly resuming their trek down to the end of his shirt and resting at the top of his pants. When he felt her starting to touch his belt is when reality hit him again.

“Slow down there, love,” Felix pushed her hands away, “Don’t go writing checks you can’t cash.”

“What do you mean?” Her voice purred in his ear. “Don’t you want me, Felix?”

Yes! Screamed his libido. But the rational part of his brain remembered the last time Marinette and him had gotten this close while making out before.

They had been on her chaise just like this and things were getting a bit friskier then they had dared to get before. Felix had started to unbutton her shirt and things quickly spiraled backwards from there. She just smelled so good and things were getting hot that he was three buttons down before Marinette had shoved him off and told him to stop. He had felt horrible seeing how uncomfortable she was as she started to quickly button her shirt back up. Her face red and she couldn’t even look at him. He had been too caught up in his own desires he hadn’t even thought to ask if she was okay with him going a step farther.

Felix really looked at the girl with him right now. She looked and sounded like Marinette but that wasn’t the girl he was seeing now. There was no love in her eyes, only desire. That wasn’t Marinette at all. That girl couldn’t do anything without putting her whole heart into it.

“You’re not my Marinette.” Felix grabbed his jacket and put it back on. “Even if you were I wouldn’t take advantage of how this floor may make her act. No matter how much my own desires screamed.”

The fake Marinette pouted and all at once their skin and face began to change until it was a normal demon sitting in front of him. “So mean, you get me all hot and bothered then give me the cold shoulder.”

Felix frowned. Of course, Marinette wouldn’t be on the first floor he checked. She was probably being kept at the very top. “Where’s Asmodeus? I’m guessing this was his idea.” Felix said.

“It was indeed!” Felix felt a wave of irritation as he turned towards one of his old bosses.

And that is a very naked man! Why does he never wear clothing? What did walking around in the nude accomplish? “Hello my former employee, my the years have been kind to you even as a human. I must admit I was disappointed you didn’t succumb to your lust. It would have been quite nice seeing you work again.”

“Please don’t talk about the time I served you. I would really just like to forget it all.” Felix was looking everywhere but at the demon.

“Such a party pooper.” Asmodeus pouted, “There is nothing to be ashamed about. Sex is a very natural thing, FeFe!”

“None of what I was contracted to do during the hundred years under your employment was natural, Asmodeus. And don’t call me FeFe!” Felix growled.

“Such a temper. And after I made one of your own fantasies a reality.” Asmodeus wrapped an arm around Felix and immediately lewd fantasies started to flash through his head, “I will admit you chose a very adorable girl to take as your lover. You seem really fond of seeing her wrapped up in pink. Although looking into your saucier dreams I see her wearing a lot of red. Does she know that you have such preferences on her choice of lingerie?”

“You looked at my…” Felix’s face began to flush. He shoved Asmodeus off. “Those are private!”

“Not to me.”

“Stay out of my head! What even was that? Some kind of test?”

“A trial. It was the boss man’s idea. Each floor will have a trial for you. If you pass then you may move onto the next. You didn’t give into lust so you’re allowed to move onto the next floor.”

“And if I get to the top? Can I get Marinette back?” A small spark of hope flared in Felix.

“Good luck getting that far. These tests are meant to make you face your sins. As a demon humanity was not a strong part of you if it remained at all. But now...now you are human. You feel guilt for doing wrong. That is what you will face ahead.”

“I can pass whatever trials you have to throw at me but I will get Marinette back.” Felix turned on his heel back towards the elevator.

“Oh before you leave I feel I should tell you something. A bit of advice for if you do manage to rescue you your lady love and feel like celebrating.” Asmodeus’ voice rang out across the room to him, “Your pretty in pink Marinette gets all flustered when you wear white. Do with that what you will.”

Flustered? What did--

Oh... _oh!_

Felix’s face was as crimson as the walls. He kept hitting the button for the elevator until the doors finally opened and he jumped inside. The doors closed again and it was like a bucket of cold water had been dumped on his head now that he was out of the Asmodeus’ dominion.

He had said that each floor would have a trial that would make Felix face his sins. Suddenly Lillith’s comment made more sense. He had felt horrible and guilty when he tried to push Marinette when he was flooded with his own desires. If the other tests were like that which Asmodeus put him through then how far could Felix get? How far before he gave in to one of their temptations? It was already so hard to keep a clear head down here. But now every floor would be drowning him in their auras. Probing his mind for the those instances of which he regrets the most.

The hope inside him started to fizzle out once more. His anxiety mounting as the elevator started to slow at the next stop.

What if he wasn’t strong enough to save Marinette?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Lillith is actually the name of a fallen angel that was known to kidnap and murder children. Of course, there are many more interpretations of her including being Adam's first wife and the mother of demons but we're just gonna focus on the kidnapper angle today. I know some people were expecting the voice haunting Felix to be some character from the ML canon but honestly guys it just didn't fit to put some version of one of the kwamis or students in Hell. As for Felix's relationship history with her, we'll leave that one up to the imagination.


	6. That's What the Devil Said

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Felix fights through Hell Marinette has a conversation with her kidnapper.

“Okay, I got this.” Felix told himself as the elevator came to a stop at the next floor. “One floor down, six more to go. I got this.”

The doors opened and a wave of drowsiness enveloped Felix. It felt like he was under a heated blanket. Yep...he was in Sloth. He entered the room and saw the multiple comfy beds. He had this. He just needed to get in and get out.

Then he saw what occupied the beds. Marinette. Multiple Marinettes dressed in fuzzy pajamas and clutching squishy plushies. They beckoned him over to join them for a nap. He knew he was in Hell but this sight alone made him start to think he was actually back in Heaven.

And to think Felix thought the lingerie Marinette in Lust would have been the biggest temptation!

\---

Far above from Felix Marinette stood against the biting wind uselessly rubbing her arms to bring some warmth back into them. Next to her was the Devil himself watching over her.

Since being dragged to Hell in the middle of the night Marinette had thought that nothing else could surprise her. That was until the Devil placed her on his enormous desk like she was a paperweight. The experience of being in Hell and then taken by Satan was something that no amount of therapy could help. The only way she was even coping with it was by telling herself it would all be over soon. Felix would come for her. She just had to hold out until he got there.

The Devil had barely said more than a few sentences to her since she was brought here and most of that was only after Felix showed up. He was trying to cast doubt in her mind but she blocked him out. Felix had come all this way for her already. She wasn’t about to leave him behind to save her own skin. Not when he was risking everything to get her back.

“Tell me, Marinette,” Satan said, “Why not just renounce the boy? Leave him behind and you can go home to your warm bed. It is not as though you would be abandoning him in a strange land. This has been his home and place of work for centuries.”

“Shut. Up.” Marinette forced out through her blue lips.

Satan gave a sigh, the beating of his massive wings casting another freezing gale of wind through the ice covered room. “You are a stubborn one I will give you that. But even the most headstrong of humans can only hold out so long. You will break eventually.”

“Maybe. But Felix is coming for me so I only need to ignore you until he does.” Marinette snapped. “You cannot sway me so easily.”

“Easy?” He guffawed, “What about this is easy, child? Here you stand frozen from the knees down and quickly getting colder. If you want even a chance of being something more than a human ice sculpture by the time your beloved gets here then you should give into the anger in your heart. It’ll warm you.”

“That’s what you’d want though, isn’t it?” Marinette took a deep breath as she tried to keep her head level, “To get me angry so you can manipulate me and convince me to leave here without Felix? I am not an idiot and I am not scared of you.”

“What brave lies you tell yourself.” He smirked and Marinette, for a minute, felt the cold ease away as anger entered her body.

No! She’s stronger than this! She turned away from him and focused on the doors across the room.

It was hard to tell how long she had been here. There was no way to tell time and even if her own sense of time was correct that didn’t mean it was playing the same on Earth. What if she had been missing for days back home? Her parents must be so worried. It felt like forever since she had seen them. She hadn’t seen anyone outside of the Devil since she was dragged here. She wanted her parents. She wanted to hug her friends. She wanted to be back home safe and sound far away from all of this. Why couldn’t Felix come through those doors already!

She glanced down at her feet and watched as the ice started growing further up her legs. She tried to wiggle her toes but she had lost all feeling in her feet long ago. Hopefully once she was out of here all the damage it caused would be reversed. If not then she was going home with a serious case of frostbite.

“I have to know,” Satan broke into her thoughts and Marinette tried not to show her annoyance, “Why is it you are so attached to this former demon anyhow? Surely there were plenty of regular human boys whom you could associate with.”

“I don’t expect something like you to understand love. Let alone why I love Felix.”

“Explain anyway.”

Marinette huffed. At least it was something else to focus on besides the numbing cold seeping into her bones. “When I first met Felix I detested him. He was a demon there to collect my soul or years of my life. But as we got to know one another I saw a different side of him that was fun and caring. He was always making me laugh and I was so relaxed hanging out with him.” She smiled at the memory of them standing on her balcony watching the meteor shower. There was another supposed to be coming up in a month or so. Felix and her had made plans to go out to the country to watch it since he couldn’t blackout the city anymore.

“Felix pushed me out of my comfort zone and I found myself wanting to be better with him around. Braver. Confident.” More warmth enveloped Marinette as she thought of how Feilx talked her up when she was nervous around Adrien. How she was encouraged just by watching him act a fool without caring at school. “But more than that Felix has a drive. He is intelligent and motivated. He has such passion and he truly does not care what others think of him. He has always had the confidence to be himself and I found that very admirable.”

“Human love is such an interesting thing.” Satan said, “You hear so many things that people do in the name of that idiotic emotion.”

“Love is not stupid.”

“Look where love has gotten you, child? Can you really look me in the eyes and say that it has not caused more pain that it has good?”

“Love is pain. When you give someone access to your heart you are also giving them an opening to hurt you. It is a risky business but even more than that when you love someone there is a chance they could hurt you by being in pain themselves. Love is about sticking together through the pain. Love is sharing in your misfortunes and helping each other through them. If you intentionally hurt someone that you claim to love it isn’t love.”

There was a long stretch of silence where Marinette finally believed that the Devil was done talking to her. Hopefully she had finally shut him up.

“Did Felix ever tell you why he fell from God?” The Devil’s voice was quiet as he asked the question. Marinette almost dared to say he sounded like a normal person in that moment.

“What?” She peeked over her shoulder at him.

“Surely you must know that all demons were once angels. Even I. We all had our reasons for falling. Reasons for why we were cast out. Do you know what it was that Felix did to be thrown from the Heavens?”

“Nothing specific.” Marinette turned her attention straight ahead. “He never seemed comfortable talking about it so I never pushed him.”

She had only brought it up once or twice when Felix was already talking about his past. For as loose lipped as he could be about the horrors he caused during his time as a demon he never talked about how he became one. With all his stories there was a sense of guilt at his actions but his falling was the only memory that seemed to cause him actual pain. And why wouldn’t it? She had heard enough of how much it hurt being hurtled to Hell. But what about the betrayal? The broken trust? Everything he was had been stripped away in one moment that he could never take back.

“Do you want to know?” The Devil’s voice wrapped around her trying to coax out her curiosity.

“I don’t want to hear anything from you!” Marinette said forcibly, “If I was to learn about Felix’s past then I would rather hear it from him.”

“How sweet, but since there is the highest likelihood that your dear little boyfriend will not even make it this far I think I’ll tell you anyway. Give you a good old sob story before you freeze to death.” He cleared his throat, “Stop me if any of this sounds familiar. There once was an angel who met a young woman…”

\---

“Ha ha ha! Suck it, Sloth!” Felix whooped as he ran back into the elevator. That had been a close one. Why did he have to be such a sucker for cuddles? All that soft music playing in his ears and the warm cushions of the beds almost had him falling asleep but he muscled through the temptation and got out of there. Truly it was too easy. Abaddon was never a motivated prince of Hell so Felix was grateful for that much.

Five more floors to go. What was the next one? He had been through Lust and Sloth so the next one should be Gluttony. Shouldn’t be too hard. Felix wouldn’t necessarily call himself a foodie so any delicacies beyond this door probably wouldn’t tempt him like it would others.

The doors opened and a familiar smell hit Felix’s nose. It smelled like the Dupain-Cheng bakery. He walked inside and saw a huge table stacked high with every single chocolatey treat the Dupain-Cheng bakery made that Felix loved. Operas, cupcakes, brownies, molten chocolate lava cake and hundreds upon hundreds of eclairs.

A Marinette in a cute little apron approached him holding out a tray of red velvet raspberry chocolate eclairs. Felix’s absolute favorite. “Care for one?” She asked in a sweet voice.

Felix’s mouth was drooling just looking at it. “Fuuuuuuuuuu--”

\---

Marinette stood still and quiet as the Devil finished his story. Then she began to shake but not from the cold. Her entire body was trembling violently and she doubled over as far as she could with her feet frozen to the desk.

“Was that not what you wanted to hear?” Satan teased her, “You are practically vibrating with anger. I can see it. Tell me who you are more mad at. Me for telling you or at God for casting out your precious boyfriend over something so trivial?”

“I’m not--I’m not angry.” Marinette stammered out. She turned her tear-stricken face towards him and for the first time he seemed taken aback. “I am upset. I hate hearing how harshly Felix was punished for one transgression. It’s not fair! Was that all it really took to be sent to Hell?”

“Obviously.” Satan leaned back in his chair watching as she scraped the frozen tears from her cheeks.

She turned away from him and curled more into herself. “Then I’m glad I gave him as much love as I could during the time we’ve been together.” She whispered more to herself. “He deserved at least that much for everything you monsters have put him through.”

Marinette made a promise to herself standing there that once Felix found her she was going to hold him and never let him go for anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rewrote this like three times because I kept hating what it was turning out like. I like this better but also acknowledge that I'm not completely satisfied with it. Bleh.


	7. A Humble Request

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tragic what a single desire can do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nice long chapter to make up for the short sorta bland chapter of last.

“I swear I really am not that hungry!” Felix was forcing the elevator doors closed so the flailing hands trying to shove food at him would stop. The hands slid back as the doors closed. Felix never thought the smell of chocolate could be anything but delicious but Gluttony had managed to make him sick of the food. It all looked and smelled amazing upon first glance but the longer he stayed around the feast the more it started to turn his stomach. If he ended up unable to eat eclairs because of this Felix was going to scream. He lived above a bakery! His girlfriend always smelled like fresh baked cookies! Hell would find a way to ruin something great like that, wouldn’t it?

On the bright side that was another floor Felix had passed. Sloth and Gluttony were so easy. Too easy now that Felix was thinking about it. The first three floors had all been tempting but in a very physical way. The next four floors all had to do with his mind.

Wait…

Felix looked at the floor number as he ascended and gulped. The fourth floor. Greed. This...this had been Felix’s floor. This was where he had spent most of his demonic life serving.

The doors opened and for the first time Felix found it hard to leave the safety of the elevator. The feeling of familiarity twisted in his gut like a writhing eel. Stepping into the room it churned faster. There was no big display here. No temptations. It was a place of business. Demons shuffled by casting hateful looks his way but otherwise did nothing. Felix kept his gaze forward as he moved past the multiple cubicles and desks arranged oh so neatly in the room until he was standing at the one sectioned off office door.

Been a long time since he had done this. Felix knocked on the door twice.

“Come in.” Answered a voice. Felix walked inside closing the door behind him. Sitting behind a polished mahogany desk in an opulent high back golden chair was Mammon. Felix’s boss and the Prince of Greed.

“Hello Mammon.” Felix took a step closer to the desk. “Are you at all surprised to see me again?”

“Only a little.” Mammon nodded towards one of the chairs opposite him. Felix took a seat.

“So what is it that you have to test me with?” Felix asked. “Everyone else has had some sort of test so I know you must have one as well.”

“Right down to business is it?” Mammon chuckled as he poured a glass of some indiscernible drink. “Nice to see that being human hasn’t changed you too much.”

“I just want to get out of here. Every second I’m stuck sitting here with you is another moment Marinette is trapped here as well.” Felix said, the hate lacing into his voice so naturally.

“Ah yes, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” Mammon pulled out a file. “Currently age sixteen. Lives in Paris, France. She was on contract for five years off her life in exchange for you providing personal service to obtain a paramour for her. That contract being thus voided after the relationship with the intended party was ended leaving the lady under contract unsatisfied.”

“So you do actually read our reports or did you just happen to brush up on this one because of the circumstances?” Felix asked.

“We do not void contracts often, especially ones that came from you. I have to say my curiosity got the better of me.” Mammon shrugged as he put the file back, “Then of course after your contract with the Agreste boy you were released from your service. It was quite the stir down here when you were sentenced to be human.”

“I imagine.”

Mammon offered him a drink but Felix turned it down. As thirsty as he was Felix knew better than to go eating or drinking anything down here.

“How was your human life? Enjoyable? Usually being made human is a punishment but that was not the case with you.”

“It was nice.” Felix thought back to all his friends above ground. The family he had found with the Dupain-Chengs. Marinette…his Marinette. “Too nice considering you lot decided to ruin it by kidnapping my girlfriend.”

“That was not the original plan. It was supposed to be a standard haunting and one of the others really wanted to posses the girl but after seeing how protective you were of her plans changed. Lilith would have never been able to take her if you hadn’t stayed away that night.”

Felix’s guilt increased. So it was his fault. He knew he should have stayed! Then Marinette wouldn’t be here and everything could have gone back to normal. Felix wished he could see Marinette, the real Marinette, just for a moment. It killed him knowing she was somewhere above suffering because of him.

“Do you know how many contracts you’ve given me, Belial?” Mammon spoke. Felix tried not to flinch at the use of his old name. “Do you know just how many deals you made while working for me?”

“Well, I worked for you for centuries and I was one of the best in your sector so I’m gonna go out on a limb and say a lot.”

“A lot would be correct.” Mammon smiled slightly, “There was not one moment that you were not working as I recall. You were always out on another assignment collecting on deals. Your work ethic put everyone else to shame. Of course what else would I expect from the demon who created the Black Death?”

“The more time I spent making deals the less time I had to spend down here. Helped kill two birds with one stone. Stay away from here and get rewarded for it in the name of devotion.”

“It is more than that though, isn’t it?” Mammon leaned forward against the table. “You have a drive, Belial. You have a lust to prove yourself. Ever since you’d fallen you have clawed and scraped to bring yourself higher. You moved up the hierarchy of Hell so quickly that one of the horsemen of the apocalypse feared they would be replaced by you.”

“Do you have a point or did you just want to gush about me?” Felix snarked.

“My point is that your efforts paid off, didn’t they? You fought for your spot and after years and years, you secured a very cushy position as one of the top demons under my management. One of the most recognized in all of Hell. I almost considered you my protege at times. Not that you would hear anything of it.”

Mammon shook his head and leaned back in his chair. He stared off into the distance as if reliving a memory. “But it wasn’t enough.” He tsked, “You had such status and respect but it was not enough for you. Nothing ever was. Nothing still is.”

A smile stretched across his face as sharp as knives. His gaze sliding back to Felix was even more piercing. “You truly are a demon of Greed, Belial.”

“I’m not.” Felix gripped the armrests of the chair, “And my name is Felix.”

“Not even your name was good enough.” Mammon laughed. “But then again it was Worthless. Belial the Worthless. Was it your name that motivated you so? Was it the urge to prove your title wrong?”

“Shut up.”

“You greedy little demon. Floating through life never satisfied. You just had to have your human life. Had to have the love of your human. Your precious Marinette.”

“Don’t say her name!” Felix roared. Mammon didn’t even flinch at his outburst.

“So defensive.” Mammon mocked him, “Do not forget that it was your greed that landed you here in the first place. Chasing a pretty face you wanted and refused to let go of.”

Felix froze. His anger snuffed out like a candle caught in the wind. Mammon smirked. “Hit a nerve, have I? You fall for one girl and another girl falls for you. Would that be considered poetic irony?”

Felix snapped out his shock. His grasp on the armrests easing. “It wasn’t greed.” He muttered, “It was never greed. It was love. I loved Brigid. I loved her more than anyone else.”

“But that wasn’t allowed,” Mammon said.

“No. It wasn’t. But I will not sit here and be told that it was greed. I never wanted to make her mine out of selfishness. She was not a possession.” Felix stood, “And neither is Marinette.”

“And what of your pretty, Marinette?” Mammon’s question stopped Felix as he was about to leave the office.

“What of her?” Felix asked. The air around him grew hot and humid then the lights flickered out casting Felix into darkness.

_*In the past*_

Every day is a miracle. That is what he had always been told. Every life is a treasure. From the oldest human life to the newest hatchling of a baby snail. Of course, all life is not capable of being perfect in any capacity. Humanity itself is a naturally born and flawed race. But that does not mean that they must always struggle on their own. Miracles were possible.

That’s what Belial’s job had been. One of the many angels that were allowed to go down to the Earth and walk amongst the humans performing miracles when needed.

It was a simple life and watching the happiness his miracles caused spread warmth throughout his being. It was a reminder that though their lives may be hard that they were also entitled to good things. They were allowed to breathe easy and relax for a moment.

It was a simple and charm life as far as he was concerned. Then came the day everything changed.

The year was around 459 AD. In a town of Ireland there was a young girl no older than eight. Earlier that day she had given away all the butter in her mother’s pantry to the poor and starving. Now she knelt at the foot of her bed praying that it may all be restored. So that was what Belial was charged to do.

During the night after the child had gone to sleep Belial refilled the pantry with all the butter the little girl had given away. He watched in delight the next morning as she rejoiced to see her prayer had been answered.

Amused and warmed by her charity and kind heart Belial decided to keep an eye on her in the future. Watching her as she grew and faced hardships but still kept goodness in her heart despite her struggles. Her charity and empathy for others only growing with age until her kind acts were recognized by a neighboring king.

Belial should have stopped there. He should have been satisfied that she now had a good and free life to do as she wished. But he had grown attached. Regularly coming by to see how she was doing and performing small miracles for her when he thought appropriate.

She was quickly growing in renown as a very holy and pure spirit to the people around her. When she was older Belial decided that he wanted to talk to her and so took human form and entered the town where she lived. There she stood sweeping the church steps as Felix approached. He found his body shaking with nerves as he drew closer.

So focused on her work she hadn’t noticed when he climbed up the steps next to her. She only looked up after she noticed she had swept the broom over his foot. Her head lifted to reveal large blue eyes staring up at him. She tucked a nervous lock of dark brown hair behind her ear.

“Oh, I apologize, I hadn’t seen you, sir.” She apologized.

“The fault was mine, good lady.” Belial found his tongue. Was it possible she looked even more radiant from up close?

“You look familiar, sir. Have I met you before?” She peered closer at him.

“I have not had the pleasure, unfortunately. What is your name, good lady? If it is not too forward to ask?”

“My name is Brigid.” She answered with a modest nod. “And what, pray tell, is your name sir?”

“You may call me whatever you like, dear Brigid.”

“I would like to call you your name.” She chuckled and the sound filled him with warmth. “Or is there a reason you try to conceal it?”

“Right. My name is Belial.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Belial.” She stepped aside, “Did you have business in the church?”

“I shall enter but my main reason for coming here was to meet you. I have heard of you and seen the miracles you’ve performed for a long time now and wanted to meet the woman behind them.”

“Oh, it was not me. It was all by the grace of God that any miracles I perform happen.”

“Maybe.” Belial smiled, “But even still you are such a kind and charitable woman. That is nothing God caused. It a virtue given by yourself.”

“You flatter me too much, sir.” A rosy tint colored her pale freckled cheeks.

“I do not think I could ever praise you too much, my dear Brigid.” He was surprised by his own words. Saying a quick farewell he ducked his head and entered the church. Every part of his being hummed with energy. Even looking back and seeing her profile silhouetted in the door was drawing back outside.

What was this? Why had she engrossed him above all others? There were other people just as pure as her in the world but his focus could only be on her. Her and her pale blue eyes and long brown hair plaited simply down her back. Her and her easy grace and melodious laugh.

From that moment Belial returned frequently to the village to talk to Brigid and struck a pleasant friendship with her. She was always pleased to see him and when they could they would take walks together through the forest. It was upon one of these days that Belial realized that his affection for Brigid had grown past that of his obligation for love of humanity. It was even more so than the friendship they had built.

He loved her. Loved her more than any human he had ever seen.

The feeling was amazing and alarming all at once. He was not meant to love one person more than another. He was meant to treat all of humanity the same. But when it came to Brigid he had unwittingly placed her above the others in his heart.

He wrestled with the feeling for a long time before he decided that he could not go on anymore. The next time he saw her he suggested they take one of their walks to which she gladly accompanied him.

For a while they walked in silence, taking in the sweet noises of the forest.

“Belial,” Brigid said breaking him from his nervous thoughts, “I can sense you want to say something. I pray you to just say it and release yourself from your agony.”

“You know me too well.” Belial sighed. He turned to her on the path wringing his hands together in a nervous bout. “What I have to say I say with the utmost sincerity and seriousness.”

“I am listening.”

“Brigid…” His hand reached out to tuck a loose strand of hair from her face. “My dear friend, you must know that I love you. I have loved you for some time and humbly ask if the feelings which I have thus expressed may in fortune be returned.”

“Oh.” That precious shade of pink flushed her face once more. “Belial, I do love you but in friendship only. I have promised myself to the church and my virtue to God. You know of this. I have often lamented how upset the choice has made my brothers.”

“I do. I had to know though if it could have been possible for us to be more though.”

“You are a good man, my friend.” She assured him, “I know of a young maiden that lives in these woods that you could marry. She is kind and beautiful and I know that her parents would approve of you if you were to meet them.”

“I do not doubt that this maiden and her family is what you say but she is not the woman I have fallen in love with.”

“I understand. But you deserve so much more than to spend your days pining after me.”

“Watching over you has served me well thus far. Even if you will not have me as your husband I wish to stay by your side as your friend.”

“And I wish you to remain there as well.”

“May I?” He took her hand. She nodded. He brought her small hand up to his mouth and kissed it. “Thank you, my dear Brigid, for everything.”

The two smiled and parted ways on the path. Belial returned to Heaven with a final mission in his mind. He went to God and knelt before Them.

“What is it you seek?” They asked the nervous angel.

“Dear Creator, I humbly ask that I may be made human and sent to live among your children on Earth.”

“I see.” They spoke softly, “Why is it you wish for this?”

“There is a woman there that I have fallen in love with. She is a saint and though she will not have me as her husband I wish to remain by her as her friend and partner through life.”

“Hmm. I am sorry, dear Belial, but I cannot grant your request.”

Belial stared up bewildered and hurt. “May I ask why not? Surely there are plenty of angels that can service you here. I can still serve on the Earth as a human.”

“Your service is not what I am worried about, Belial. I have a path for everyone and yours I am sorry to say does not fall into line of the saintly Brigid you hold so dearly.”

“But--But I love her!” Belial was desperate. “How can you say that we must live apart from one another?”

“Your path will make sense in time, dear one. But I must tell you that you should not interact with this woman anymore. Not as a human in disguise at least.”

“So that is it? I am never to speak to her again?”

“Yes.”

“That is unfair!” Tears started to spill from his eyes, “The humans are allowed to plot their own stories and make their own decisions but you tell me that I must go along with what you have planned without thinking. To trust that it is for the best? How can any of this be for the best? How can being separated from the one I love be what is meant for me?”

“Belial--”

“No!” He stood. “Tell me why! Why are we not allowed to pursue that which makes us happy? That which fulfills us?”

“This woman will not fulfill you. You only believe that she will because you are blinded by your pitched emotions.”

“That is not--”

“Enough!” Their voice rang out and Belial fell to his knees in fright. They heaved a great sigh and spoke again much calmer. “You will not let this go, will you, Belial?”

“I cannot.” He answered quietly. More tears falling to the ground in front of him.

“So there is nothing to do.” The ground underneath Belial started to sink and tingle like it wasn’t all there. “I am sorry.”

The floor beneath him opened up and Belial fell through.

Falling...falling...falling. The light above him growing smaller. He reached for it trying to fly back but found his wings turning to ash on his back as he plummeted down.

No! It can’t end like this! It can’t!

He pulled at his skin as the fire engulfed him. The light from above becoming more indiscernible through the flames around him. Tears turning to steam as they left his eyes.

How could They do this to him? What had he done to deserve this? “All I wanted was to be by her!” He screamed. “You robbed me of the one thing I have ever desired!”

Burning. Everything was burning! He screamed and screamed until his throat was run raw. He looked away from where he had fallen and saw the ground fast approaching. He didn’t bother to brace for the hit knowing it would help none. He had fallen. There was nothing left for him to return to now. They had made him a demon.


	8. Perchance to Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not all dreams are as sweet as they look

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it is like 2 AM but I finished this chapter and I wanted to post it before I forgot again!

Felix hit the ground but there was no pain this time. It was as if he woke up from a dream where he was falling and all the air rushed back into his lungs. Dazed and confused he looked around at where he had landed. He was in a grassy field. The only thing in sight was the belltower beyond the forest.

Felix got up and started to walk towards the village. What had he been doing out in that field anyway? He couldn’t remember how he had gotten there. Was he looking for something? It felt like he had lost something but he couldn’t remember what.

The village was bustling with activity as people rushed to and fro running errands. Many faces turned to him wishing him a good morning as he passed. Felix wasn’t sure where he was going but his feet took him to the front of a bakery. It smelled heavenly even from outside. He pushed open the door and stepped inside.

“About time you got back.” A voice called from behind the counter. A woman with dark hair piled high on her head with little wisps falling out and framing her slightly sweaty face waved him over. Upon seeing her his world snapped into focus. Right. This was his home. His wife. His Marinette.

As if in a trance he came closer and held out a small bouquet of wildflowers he hadn’t noticed he had been holding. “Sorry love, I hope these make up for it.”

“Awe,” she took them and inhaled deeply. “Thank you, Felix, they’re lovely. But I have a different kind of flour I need you to get to work on.”

“Of course.” Felix walked back around the counter and threw on an apron. “Where are your little helpers? Terrorizing the neighbor boys again?”

“They should be upstairs.” Marinette turned towards the stairs, “Emma! Hugo! Come down here please!”

Two little kids came running down the stairs. Both with incredibly dark hair just like their mother. The oldest, Emma, had bright grey eyes and freckles across her nose while the younger, Hugo, had bright blue eyes and sharp features that made him look impish.

“Papa!” Hugo launched himself into Felix’s arms. “I caught a frog today!”

“Oh did you now? Where is said frog now?” Felix asked.

“He put it back outside, right Hugo?” Marinette looked over her shoulder at her son.

“Uh…”

“Hugo!” Marinette rolled her eyes, “I told you no frogs, newts, salamanders, snakes, or any other wildlife in the house.”

“But mama!” he whined, “He’s my friend! I promise I’ll take good care of him.”

“I am sorry sweetie, but he is gonna have to go back to his home in the forest.”

“Papa,” Hugo turned his pleading eyes on him, “Can I please keep him?”

Oh, how those eyes unraveled him. “Well…”

“Felix,” Marinette warned.

“I’m sorry son, listen to your mother and take the frog back outside.”

Hugo pouted and tried to reason with them but eventually gave up and went upstairs to grab his warty friend. At the same time, Emma was putting the flowers Felix had brought home in some water and set them out by the window to get some sun. She was always the quieter of the two kids. Felix waved her over to give him a hand making some sweet rolls.

“How are you today, Emma?” Felix asked her.

“Good. I finished that new book you got me.”

“Already? I am very impressed.” He ruffled her hair. “I would have thought it would take you at least a couple days.”

“Oh, but I couldn’t put it down. It turns out the ghost that was haunting the graveyard was actually the soul of a murdered blacksmith searching for his son’s lost spirit.”

“I’m glad you liked it so much. Maybe this weekend we can go out to the bookshop and get you another book to read. Hopefully, one that’ll take more than two days for you to get through.”

“You mean it?” Emma bounced excitedly.

“I sure do.” They slid the sweet rolls into the oven. “Can you go check on your brother and make sure he releases that frog, sweetie?”

“Sure papa.” Emma wiped her hands off on her own little apron and ran to find her brother.

“Darling,” Marinette waved her husband over, “If you do get her another book can you make sure it isn’t a ghost story?”

“What’s wrong with ghost stories?”

“Besides the fact that she gets spooked at night after reading them? She’s nine years old. I don’t think she should be reading stuff like that.”

“What would you rather she read?” Felix hugged her from behind, “Fairy tales? Gran adventures full of trolls and princess and shining knights fighting dragons?”

“Maybe.” She turned in his arms. “If so that we can have one night where she doesn’t come running into our room scared that there is a vengeful spirit lurking outside her window.”

“Why? You looking to have some privacy with me, love?” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Want to make another baby?”

She flicked the side of his head. “Stop talking like that. The kids might hear you.”

“You are no fun.” He kissed her quick. “But I’ll oblige for now.”

“Well,” Marinette twiddled her thumbs, “Since we are on the subject of babies…”

“Yes,” Felix said immediately making her laugh. “Whatever it is, yes. When do you want to start trying?”

“I was actually thinking that we could adopt one from the orphanage.”

“Oh,” Felix didn’t expect this, “The one the church runs on the other side of the creek?”

“Yes. There are many children there in need of a good home and we’ve already had two of our own so I thought, why not?”

“I love that idea.” He kissed her again. “Do you think Hugo and Emma would want a new sister or a new brother?”

“We’ll ask them when they come back down.”

When the kids came pattering back downstairs to release the frog Felix and Marinette asked them how they felt about adopting a new sibling for them. The kids were ecstatic. Emma wanted an older sister that could do her hair and make her flower crowns. Hugo wanted a baby brother that he could take out frog hunting and stone skipping.

The next day Felix and Marinette headed to the orphanage to see the children. Emma and Hugo were staying home with their grandparents. The orphanage was not a dreary place but it did lack the warm home touches that come from a proper house. Kids ran about playing with each other or sitting by themselves too shy to go play. There were so many kids it was hard to even begin to think of who they wanted to take home. A part of Felix wanted to grab them all and call them his but not even all the bread in the bakery would be enough to feed them all so he would have to settle for one.

Marinette headed to see some of the older girls while Felix stood watching all the young boys run around. Did he just start talking to them?

“Not sure how to approach one of them?” A voice behind him asked.

He turned around and came face to face with a young woman with dark brown hair plaited down her back and a kind face. Whoa...she was really pretty. She was also incredibly familiar but he couldn’t place where he had seen her.

“Huh?” His brain finally caught up with him. “Sorry, what did you say?”

She laughed lightly and turned his attention to the boys. She smelled like wildflowers. “Just kneel down and play with them.” She told him. “If you try to stop and talk to them on their own you’re going to be ignored.”

“Oh, thanks.” Felix knelt down and started playing jacks with the boys sitting in a circle. The young woman stood nearby smiling as she watched him interact with the kids. Her gaze burned into him.

The bell was rung for lunch and the kids sped off to get food. Felix stood and turned to the girl that had been watching him the entire time. “You are very good with them.” She said, “Any that particularly stood out to you?”

“Thanks. I have a little boy at home already so…” He shrugged, “They all seem like good kids but I don’t know how to pick just one.”

“I understand that.” She smiled, “What is your name?”

“Felix.”

“Nice to meet you, Felix. My name is Brigid.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Brigid. Have you worked here long?”

“Since it was founded a few years back.” She nodded. “Is this the first time you’ve adopted?”

“Yes. I um,” He cleared his throat. Why was he so nervous talking to her? “I have two others at home already by my wife.”

“Your wife must be very lucky to have such a good father to her children.”

“Thanks.” Where had Marinette gone? She had been here just a minute ago. She had come with him. Hadn’t she? He couldn’t remember now. This girl, Brigid, was the only face he could remember now.

“The children will be out at lunch for a while so we could talk till they are finished.”

“About what?”

“About anything.” She shrugged and opened the door. “There is a wonderful path through the forest we could take.”

“Oh um…” A walk through the forest with Brigid. It did sound quite nice. “I would--that is--I would like that.”

“Splendid.” She held out her hand to him. “Let’s go then.”

Felix stepped closer to take her hand. Her bright blue eyes pulling him in further. Such beautiful soft blue eyes...just like Marinette’s.

Marinette!

He withdrew and stepped away from Brigid. Her face fell a touch as he backed away from her. This wasn’t real. None of it was real. Brigid was gone. Brigid had been gone for centuries.

This had to be Envy. He already had someone but was still pining after someone who was never his and who he had lost long ago.

He turned around and saw Marinette watching him. Not the dream version Hell had created. The real Marinette in her pajamas and covered in ice up to her waist. He ran to her and embraced her. “You are my love. My real love. And I am coming for you, Marinette. I promise.”

The scene around him melted away. When he opened his eyes and looked up at who he was embracing it was not Marinette he was holding.

“Damn it, Bee!” Felix jumped back from Beelzebub. “Why? Was there any reason for you personally to be masquerading as my girlfriend?”

“I thought it might be funny.” They shrugged. “Thought I would have had you for sure in that scenario.”

“Maybe next time you’re trying to make a temptation about envy don’t first introduce me into a sequence that gives me my girlfriend as my wife and mother to two beautiful children.”

“Now that was a daydream from your own mind. I took it and made it real to see if just seeing the face of the one you wanted so badly was enough to sway you from your idea of an idyllic life. Almost was too.” Beelzebub shook their head. “And now I’m bored. So you can scoot along now.” They pointed toward the elevator.

“Thanks.” Felix rolled his eyes and stomped over to the elevator. Once safely inside away from prying eyes he sunk down to the floor shaking.

Damn it! Damn everything!

He knew they would try to use Brigid against him but this was worse than he thought. Making him relive the moment he had fallen. Giving him a fantasy sequence where she was right there all but asking him to go with her.

Felix hadn’t so much as spoken Brigid’s name since he had fallen. How was it that they knew about her? The same way he had gotten his fantasies and fears. They could just pull them out of his head to use in their sick games.

Whatever. They could do anything they wanted. Torture him however they chose. He was already through five floors and needed to get through two more. Two more floors and he would have Marinette again. Two more floors and this nightmare ended.


	9. A Hard Pill to Swallow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just when Felix thought this day couldn't get any worse, he has to sit through the worst orientation video ever.

Floor number six. Felix had only been on this floor once that he could recall and it had been his first day in Hell over a millennium ago. Stepping off he found what looked like an abandoned floor. No demons, no furniture, just a single light at the end of the room.

This was foreboding.

“Lucy, I’m home!” Felix shouted and was met with silence. “Well, you are no fun at all, mister Morningstar. You know they have a show about you on Earth now? I think you own like a nightclub or something. I don’t know I haven’t watched it.”

Still nothing. Guess he was gonna have to play along with whatever it was Lucifer had planned. Felix walked further into the room and saw there was a projector hanging from the ceiling and a screen hung up on the wall. What was this about?

“Hello?” Felix shouted to the empty room. “I know I’m in Pride so where are you, Lucy? Get your ass out here so I can pass whatever test you have for me and be on my way!”

The light above him went out and the projector came to life. A grainy video started to play, a long shot stretching across the fields of Hell back before they moved everything into one building. Burning fields and souls wailing without end as far as the eye could see. There was also a voice narration and Felix stared in horror at what he was witnessing.

_“Hello and welcome to your first day as an official fallen angel, or as we like to be referred, demon. This is Hell! Your new home and base of operations!”_

The orientation video.

_“You may be confused about what you are doing here at first but do not worry. That will soon pass. Just look at our newest arrival here.”_

The video zoomed in on someone laying on the ground struggling to get to their feet. Freshly fallen and still smoldering. The life went out of Felix when he realized it was him he was seeing. It was a recording of Felix’s first moments in Hell. He barely even recognized himself.

_“This is Belial. He has just fallen from the grace of God and is already rearing to go to prove himself amongst his new demonic peers.”_

The video followed him as he limped his way along to the gates. He was met with some other demons who took him away for some fresh clothing. There was a hard cut to Felix sitting at a desk writing out some report or another.

_“After a short hundred years of serving the lords of Hell our humble little demon has already made quite the impression to his superiors through his hard work and dedication to collect new souls for our master, Satan.”_

Felix rubbed his temples. Please let this end already.

The video cut again to show Felix hunched next to someone with a contract. A whole montage began playing of all the souls Felix had acquired through the years. His disinterested face giving way slowly to a wide, sadistic smile as human after human signed their souls away to him.

_“Good job, Belial!”_ The voiceover came in again, _“Remember to always take pride in your work like our demon here. Cause what else do you have to live for?”_

The video cut again to Felix torturing humans on Earth and implanting ideas of sin and chaos into their heads.

_“Do not forget to have fun!”_ The video showed Felix playing mind games with a human man until he finally offed himself to escape the madness.

Felix knew that man...that was the one he had told Marinette about a few days ago. The annoying guy that he had been driving insane for five years. He forgot that he ended up killing himself. How could he forget something like that? It was just another life, one life among millions. Why would he remember?

The feeling made him sick. He had driven this man to insanity and suicide and had only remembered it cause he thought it had been funny at the time.

_“With enough hard work like Belial here you too can unlock rewarding new experiences!”_

This time it showed Felix standing next to Pestilence on a rooftop looking over a city.

_“A new plague! Good job, Belial! Give yourself a pat on the back!”_

The person he saw in the film was smiling so wide. The pure enjoyment on his face as he watched the hordes of humans stumble around in their own sick and wailing over their dead families disturbed Felix now. The person in the film was so pleased with his work. Preening over the attention and the praise he received from everyone else for all that he had accomplished.

No. This wasn’t some person. This was Felix. No matter how much he wanted to distance himself from the version he saw in the film it didn’t stop the truth of the matter. That had been him. That was Felix watching those people die by his hand and loving every second of it. That was Felix who tricked and tortured people for fun. That was Felix who lived for the attention his work gave him.

_“Never forget,”_ The voiceover rammed through Felix’s thoughts like a runaway train. _“Always be proud of your accomplishments like our hard-working demon, Belial!”_

Felix shook his head. Tears pricking behind his eyes. He wasn’t proud. Not anymore. He could never be proud of the torment he had put so many innocent people through. The guilt of it weighed down harder on him. He didn’t know...he hadn’t realized...he hadn’t cared! He had been proud before but he wasn’t now. He took no pleasure in seeing any of this! It made him sick to his stomach being reminded of it all.

“Aren’t you still proud, Belial?” The voice sounded closer. Like it wasn’t just a recording in the video. Felix searched for the source but there was no one else there. It was only him and the projection.

“I hold no pride in the suffering I caused!” Felix yelled at the screen. “I do not!”

“You say that but just look at that smile. Look at how you shine under the adoration of your colleagues.” The voice spoke again, “You have always lived for the attention.”

“That isn’t me!” Felix screamed.

“You can say that as much as you like but it does not change the fact that you have not changed one bit. You may not collect souls anymore but one year as a human hardly makes up for a millennium of death.” The voice said, “Your guilt today does not excuse that you are still filled with pride. Even as a human you still think of yourself as above your new peers. And why shouldn’t you? You’ve lived so much longer than them. Seen so much more than they ever will. Accomplished so much more than any of them could even begin to dream of.”

“My accomplishments are nothing to be proud of!”

“Aren’t they? You still speak of them though.” The comment cut him to the core. “You joke about them. You talk about them so easily that you can just laugh off causing the death of millions of humans.”

The video sputtered again showing a much sharper image of Felix and Marinette sitting in her room as Felix told her about him creating the Bubonic Plague. He looked so unbothered by it while Marinette...had she really looked that horrified when he told her? How hadn’t he noticed?

“You’re not just joking or trying to make light of your sins. You’re boasting.”

“AAAAAGGGHH!” Felix tore down the projection screen. He had seen enough!

The video continued to play on the blank wall. The picture changed to a snowy landscape. He saw a figure huddled against the cold.

“Marinette…” He touched the wall where her image rested. The ice was creeping closer to her shoulders.

“And here is your proudest moment of all.” The voice rang out, mocking him once more. “The girl you won. She is such a pretty prize isn’t she?”

“Stop this.” He ground out through clenched teeth.

“What is wrong? Are you still not proud? Proud to call her yours?” The voice laughed, “You’ve taken such good care of her after all.”

“NO!” Felix punched the wall as hard as he could. His fist crashing through the drywall and leaving a hole where the image of Marinette had been.

The projection died and the lights came back on. Felix sunk down to the floor, tears streaming down his face. This was all his fault. All of it.

“Are you still proud?” The voice was behind him now. The presence of someone at his back but he couldn’t find the strength to turn around. “Face me, Belial.” They commanded.

With a deep breath Felix turned to look into the face of the one who had been torturing him this entire time. Lucifer. He stood tall and imposing, well-composed and utterly bored with the sniveling former demon at his feet.

“Even if you do manage to save her what then?” Lucifer asked. “The horrors she has faced here will never wash away. Demons will still crawl towards her, even more now that she’s been subject to our realm for so long. The stink of it will never leave her.”

Felix couldn’t find anything to say because he knew it was true. Lucifer continued on. “We both know it will never leave you. You will be subject to your past all your life. All the suffering you caused and the girl is just another body added to the pile. And for what? What have you accomplished?”

“You get her back and then what? You think you’ve won? You get to have the life you think you are entitled? You leave here and expect to be able to keep on playing house?” Lucifer scoffed, “You have gotten everything you ever wanted and you are proud of it. How many angels wished to be human? How many demons would give their lives for a new one of compassion and love? You’ve bested them both. Not an easy feat.”

He hauled Felix to his feet, snarling in his face. “You duped Heaven and Hell. Isn’t that something to be proud of?”

Felix wrenched his arm away from him and numbly started to walk back towards the elevator. Each step felt like he had a hundred pounds tied to his legs. He had to get out of here. He had to rescue Marinette. He had to leave. He needed Marinette. He needed--

He pushed the button for the elevator but it wouldn’t open. He tried again and again but the doors remained shut. He tried prying them open but again it yielded nothing. No! He was one floor away! He had to get out of here! He had to!

“You’ve never been up this far, have you?” Lucifer said. “The elevator doesn’t go up to the seventh floor. You’ll have to take the stairs.”

Right...of course they couldn’t have made any of this even a little simpler. Not when he was so close.

Felix turned to where Lucifer was pointing and pushed open the door to the staircase. A cold gust of wind chilled him to the bone. If that was how the stairs leading up were like from the floor below Felix couldn’t imagine how cold it was on the actual seventh floor.

He put one foot inside the stairwell before a thought came to him. He turned around and saw Lucifer still watching him. “Do you--” He cleared his throat of the emotions lodged there, “Do you remember why you fell?” He asked.

Lucifer looked honestly surprised by the question. He nodded slowly. “Don’t we all?” He said and for a moment Felix thought he saw some light return to his eyes, “It is our curse.”

“Amongst other things,” Felix muttered. He took a deep breath and entered the stairwell. The door behind him shut with a finality that let Felix know there was no turning back now. He was on his way up to the final floor where Marinette and something far worse than anything he had experienced yet was waiting for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a different idea on how the whole projection of all his accomplishments and shames as a demon would go but then I thought, what is the one thing that would annoy Felix more than being confronted with his past?
> 
> One of those cringey training/orientation videos that companies make new employees watch! COMBINED with all the horrible things he once took pleasure and pride in and now feels incredible guilt and shame over! Woo!


	10. A Deal With the Devil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The anger in your heart warms you now but will leave you cold in your grave

Climbing the steps got harder and harder the further Felix went. It had gone from being cold to ice forming on the steps and handrails. Soon the entire stairwell was covered in ice and chunks of it had broken away under the intense cold. It took all his energy to not slip while maneuvering around the craters in the stairs and even then he figured it was mainly luck that kept him upright. One slip and he’d plummet right down back to the first floor.

By the time he got to the top of the stairwell he was tired and pissed and just wanted to grab Marinette and leave already. The door was frozen shut and Felix had to slam his body against it at least five times before it finally broke open. Finally! He kicked it open the rest of the way and barged into the room.

Inside it was nothing but barren frozen landscape in all directions and it was disturbingly quiet. The only sound came from the slicing cold gale of wind. Felix didn’t feel the cold though. His focus was on what lay at the center of the room.

A giant desk the size of a small building stood in the center and behind it was the King of Hell himself, Satan. He was every inch what someone would think of when they thought of the devil. Skin as red as blood and eyes as black as coal. A crown of horns on his head and two large webbed wings that sent more harsh gusts of wind through the room.

The sight of him may have terrified Felix but he wasn’t what he was focusing on. Just to the right of him, standing on his desk like a sad frozen paperweight was Marinette. Even from this distance, Felix could tell the ice had almost completely overtaken her.

The Devil made no move to stop Felix as he started to climb up the leg of the desk. The ice was sharp and his hands tried to freeze to it but he continued on. He needed to get up there! He needed to get to Marinette!

With a final great heave he hoisted himself over the edge and onto the top of the desk. His lungs burned with the effort and he lay back trying to catch his breath.

“F-F-Felix,” The sound of his name snapped him out of his exhausted stupor and he scrambled to his feet.

“Marinette!” He slid across the icy desk to her. The ice was up around her neck now. She was still conscious but he could tell she was getting weaker by the second. “Oh love, I am so sorry.”

The thin layer of frost across her face cracked as she smiled at him. “I knew--knew you’d come f-f-for me.”

He held her close as if that could chase away the cold and horror she’d been through. “You’re not getting away from me that easily, love.”

She was still alive. She was alive and they were together again. That’s all that mattered.

Another gust of wind nearly sent Felix falling over himself. He turned to glare at the source of all of this. Time to tell the Devil to fuck off!

“It is rather remarkable isn’t it?” Satan said. “How courageous one idiot can be.”

“Let Marinette go!” Felix had been through enough! He would single-handedly kick the Devil’s ass ten ways to Sunday if it meant that he could get Marinette out of here as soon as possible.

Satan smirked at him and that one tick of his face sent Felix’s courage plummeting. Why was he smiling like that? What about this was in his favor? Felix had proven himself. He beat the trials on every floor. This should be over now.

No. No, it wasn’t over yet. Seven floors for seven sins. Felix had passed through six. Lust, Sloth, Gluttony, Greed, Envy, and Pride. This was the final floor. The final trial. Wrath.

Felix this entire time had been slowly getting angrier and angrier the further up the building he got. The cold hadn’t bothered him so much because he was angry. He was full of wrath. Just like Satan. It’s what kept him warm in this frozen wasteland while Marinette was turned into an ice sculpture. Even after being dragged to Hell and forced to suffer, she did not hold the wrath inside her to keep her warm.

If he wanted to get out of here with Marinette he needed to not let himself be overtaken with anger. He stepped back towards Marinette and scraped some of the frost from her face. He let the anger he had been holding wash away as he breathed her in. His Marinette. His love. He would get her home.

The cold started to set in all at once and Felix shivered violently against it.

“Now that was foolish, don’t you think?” Satan mocked him, “Now you both will freeze here.”

“No we won’t.” Felix said as calmly as he could. He turned back to the Devil. “You are going to let Marinette go home.”

“And give me one reason as to why I should?” Satan said.

“Because this is all that is left. You and me and a girl that doesn’t deserve to be here. So I am asking you to send her home now.”

“Aren’t you angry anymore, Felix?” Satan asked, “Aren’t you mad that I had her taken? Don’t you want to take some revenge? You would be more than justified in doing so.” He leaned forward so that his ginormous head was closer to Felix. “Come on boy, take me on. I want to see what someone who has fought through Hell can do to the King.”

Felix clenched and unclenched his fists. “I am not going to fight you. I was furious and I may still be angry but there is something stronger than anger that I feel now.”

“Let me guess,” Satan rolled his eyes, “Love?”

“Disappointment.” Felix answered. For a moment he saw confusion cross the Devil’s face. “I am disappointed and ashamed of myself. I am the reason that Marinette is here. I am the reason she has had to suffer. I could not see past my own happiness to even begin to consider how my presence in her life could have hurt her. I should be smarter than that. I should know better given all the years I have lived and hard lessons I have learned. Not just what I was forced to confront today but every other mistake I made throughout my life.”

Felix gave Marinette one last smile. “Marinette, my love,” he kissed her forehead, “I love you so much. I need you to understand this. I love you more than anything.”

She opened her mouth as if to say something but Felix turned away and strode across the desk towards Satan. “Once a demon, always a demon. And I’m here to make a deal with you.”

“And what deal would that be?”

“Send Marinette home and I will stay in her place.”

“Felix!” Marinette shouted, her voice hoarse from the cold. “No!”

This seemed to intrigue the Devil who leaned back in his chair to ponder the bargain. “And what makes you think your life is equal to hers?”

“It isn’t. But she is a regular human. Her time for judgment should not be for many more years. I am not. I know that no matter what I do in my life as a human it will never make up for the horrifying things I have done in my life before now. I know you all want to punish me for being happy so instead of demanding you send us both back and having to wait several years for me to die and be sent back here for you to torture you can just take me now. Under one condition.”

“The girl goes free. Yes, you’ve mentioned that.” Satan drawled.

“And that you remove any memory she had of this place...and any memory of me.”

“No!” Marinette screamed again. The sound tore him in two. “Felix, I don’t want to forget you!”

He glanced back at her, unable to step closer lest he never leave her side again. “Please!” She begged, “You can’t do this!”

“I have to, love.” He said, “Besides, it doesn’t matter what happens to me. If I know you are safe and sound in your bed ignorant of all that you have gone through since meeting me...well I call that a win.”

“Felix…” He could see the tears freezing to her face.

“I am so sorry you had to go through any of this. I know that I deserve any and all of what will happen hereafter you leave.”

“No you don’t!” She hiccuped.

“Yes I do!” Felix snapped. Tears of his own started to prick behind his eyes. “I have never shied away from the horrible deeds I had done when I was a demon. But what I told you is barely the tip of the iceberg of the innumerable amount of reprehensible things I have done in my life. Sins that will never wash and that I will never be able to forget. I was so arrogant to believe that I could have a normal human life like you and Adrien and everyone else. That normal human life isn’t in the cards for me though. It was never meant to be.”

Felix took a deep breath. “Humans are imperfect. It is how they are made. But me? I chose to do bad. I chose to do wrong every day and relished in the suffering I caused. It was what gave my life meaning for so long.”

“But you’re not like that anymore.”

“Maybe. Maybe I have changed but as long as it is still in me, still a part of my life then I will never be able to be a regular human. No amount of loving you and wanting to be a better person will make me forget what I truly am. I’ll never be able to forget all I’ve done.”

The tears were now falling freely down his face. “Marinette, my love,” He wanted so badly to reach out and touch her one last time. “This last year with you has been wonderful. It is the happiest and most loved I have ever been in my entire life. But it was not real. What I was doing was more like a child playing pretend. I can’t keep joking about Hell and being a demon because it isn’t a joke.”

“I know that the things I did should make me sick and they do to a degree but there is another part of me that shrugs off all I’ve done. How can I not feel overwhelming guilt for what I’ve done? How can I remember the people I hurt and the lives I ended and still just not care? How can I hold something as precious as you and not be sick with myself? I’m not human. I never really was. But I will not let you suffer any more for my transgressions. I love you too much for that.”

He looked back at the Devil. “So, do we have a deal?”

“I say we do.” His face cracked into a sadistic smile. “It is going to be such fun tearing you apart again and again.”

“FELIX!” Marinette’s scream rippled through the room. She had busted an arm out of her cast of ice and reached it lamely towards him. “Please…I don’t want to lose you!”

Felix steeled himself against her cries of protests. She used the last of her energy to break through the ice surrounding her and pushed herself across the desk. Felix took the pen floating by him and put it to the contract in front of him. The last deal he would ever make.

Marinette was almost upon him now. He let himself one last look at her. “Thank you, love, for everything.”

Felix swiped the pen across the contract and then the whole world went white.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to the people still reading and giving me the motivation to actually complete this and not just orphan it. You are awesome!


	11. This One's Not Pretend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So close to reaching  
> That famous happy end  
> Almost believing  
> This one's not pretend  
> And now you're beside me  
> And look how far we've come  
> So far we are, so close  
> -So Close by John McLaughlin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some extra long fluff to make up for the endless angst that was this story. Hope you like it!

What happened? Felix signed the contract and then...nothing. He wasn’t cold anymore. He wasn’t in any kind of pain. Everything felt warm and safe. He was floating through secure nothingness.

Wait. Did Marinette get sent back home? Where was she? Was she safe? What was going on?

_Calm yourself, Felix._ A voice that Felix hadn’t heard in a long time wrapped around him banishing all his worries away. _Everything will be alright. All of this will be nothing more than a bad dream._

Brigid? But what--

_It is almost over now. You have found your path and you have earned it. Take care, my angel, and do not waste this gift._

\---

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Hm?

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

Ugh, stupid alarm. Felix reached over and blindly tapped at his phone trying to turn it off. Did he really need to wake up? Was school really that important? He had spent all of yesterday moving into his new apartment after all. Perhaps he could be excused from going to school out of pure exhaustion.

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

“Oh my god, fine!” Felix got up and turned off the alarm for good. “I’m going to school! Are you happy now?”

Felix got up and started getting ready for school. Since getting emancipation from his parents Felix life seemed to finally fall into place. He wasn’t stuck out in the middle of nowhere being homeschooled and told that vaccines were the cause of autism. How was it he had to have such stupid parents?

Now he was a free agent and had his own small apartment in Paris. Even better it looked like he had moved in right next to a bakery! He didn’t have a chance to stop in yesterday while he was unpacking but hopefully, he could get something today after school.

He grabbed his bookbag and strode out of the apartment to the school across the street. College Francois Dupont. He looked around at the few students milling about before classes started. There were a few cursory glances his way but no one paid him any special mind. Good. He didn’t want to deal with any kind of new student attention.

The classroom he was directed to was empty save for two boys in the front row talking about music or something. Felix took the seat behind them and waited for class to start. More students started to filter in and he got a couple of greetings and questions about whether he was a new student or not.

Then just as the bell was about to ring a girl in pigtails sprinted into the classroom and went somersaulting over her own two feet. “Made it! I made it!” She stood up and immediately started hopping around on one foot. “Oh crap my ankle!”

“You weren’t running that late but I appreciate the enthusiasm.” Another girl with glasses walked in behind her. “Did you hurt yourself again?”

“Yeah, a little.” The girl that had fallen leaned on her friend as they limped their way over to the desk Felix was sitting at. Pigtails stopped in front of him looking him up and down. “Hi.” She said.

“Uh…” Oh crap, she was really pretty. Like it should not be allowed how cute this girl was. All blue eyes, dark hair, and freckled face. Felix searched for something to say but was coming up empty.

“You’re in my seat.” She pointed at the chair.

“Sorry!” He stumbled to standing and stepped away from the chair. “I uh, didn’t know.”

“It’s okay.” She smiled. The smile alone almost undid him. “I’m Marinette, what’s your name?”

“Felix. Felix Graham. I just started today.”

“Nice to meet you, Felix. Welcome to Dupont.” She shook his hand. “I’m gonna sit now.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” He asked, clearly concerned by how unfazed she was by her wipeout. “That looked like it hurt.”

“I’ll be fine.” She shrugged, “I’ve taken worse falls than that. I may need to get an ice pack but I think as long as I don’t put any weight on it it’ll be fine.”

“Okay. If you’re sure.” The bell rang and the teacher walked in, “I’ll um, I’ll talk to you later, Marinette.”

She gave him another warm smile that made his heart skip a beat. He slid into the only available seat in the back. It was hard to listen to what the teacher was saying when his focus kept going back to the pigtail girl near the front. Marinette. Was this a crush? Did he have on a crush on a girl he met ten minutes ago? He’s never had a crush on someone before. Then again he had never seen a girl as cute as her before...or as hardy. Seriously! Who faceplants and then gets up two seconds later like it was no big thing?

_The love of our life, that’s who!_ Screamed Felix’s inner monologue.

Yep...he was officially screwed and it was only day one and a handful of sentences in. Joy of joys.

After a few classes it was time for gym and they were playing dodgeball. The game was going well up until the one kid, Kim, threw one of the balls with wildly bad aim towards Marinette. Marinette sat off to the side drawing because her ankle was still hurting completely unaware of what was heading towards her.

“Marinette!” Felix jumped towards the ball to try and catch it or deflect it before it could hit her. He sorta did that. If by sorta one meant that he got hit in the face with it instead then yes.

“Holy crap! Felix, are you alright?” Marinette tenderly got to her feet and limped over to him. She ripped a blank piece of paper out of notebook and handed it to him. “Your nose is bleeding.”

“Perfect.” He took the paper and tried to staunch the flow of blood gushing out of his nose.

“Come on,” Marinette put a hand on the small of his back and started to push him forward. “Let’s get you down to the nurse’s office.”

“Do you need any help?” Marinette’s friend, Alya, asked.

“No, I got him. Besides, I really should be getting some ice for my ankle now.” Together the two made their way down to the nurse's station. Thankfully Felix’s nose wasn’t broken but it would probably bruise. Marinette sat nearby with an ice pack on her ankle. Felix sat down beside her holding his own ice pack on his face.

“Not the best first day at a new school, is it?” Marinette gave him a sympathetic smile. “Does it hurt terribly?”

“Not really. The ice helps.” Felix scrunched his nose and winced. “Bad idea.”

“So, Felix,” Marinette said, “Where are you from? Or I guess, where were you from?”

“I used to live out in the country with my parents until I got my emancipation. They homeschooled me my entire life so this is really my very first day of actual schooling. Have to say I like it a lot more.”

“Oh, why were you emancipated?” She asked.

“My parents were hippie anti-vaxxers that believed that milking a cow was animal abuse. You know, those sort of people. I was sick a lot as a kid because of it and so when the time came that I was legally able to split I did. Best decision I ever made.”

“Sorry to hear that.” She laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “How are you finding city life?”

“Much better. It’s noisier than I’m used to but there is so much more life here. I have my own place, I can buy my own food, I finally got vaccinated, it has been a good time.”

“I bet.” The bell rung dismissing everyone to their next class. They were both feeling much better by this point and decided to return to class. After the day was over Felix said goodbye to his new classmates and started heading back home. He noticed Marinette walking in the same direction and sped up to catch up to her.

“Hey there,” He stopped at the crosswalk with her. “You live this way too?”

“Oh yeah, I live just across the street. My apartment is right above the bakery.”

“Wait, this bakery?” Felix pointed to the Dupain-Cheng bakery. “The one connected to the apartment building?”

“Yeah?”

“That’s where I moved in!”

“Wait! You’re the new tenant?” Marinette beamed, “My parents told me someone was moving into the vacant apartment near us. I didn’t know it was you though.”

“Well, this is cool. I not only live next to a bakery but by my cute new classmate. This is awesome!” Felix’s words caught up to him and he clamped a hand around his mouth.

Marinette was staring at him wide-eyed and...was she blushing? She decided to have mercy and not mention the cute comment and instead tugged him along across the road towards the bakery. “I also have some even better news,” She said as she strolled into the bakery. “This bakery is also run by my parents.”

There was no way this girl could get more attractive. There just wasn’t. Cute, caring, apparently a bit of a badass, and she was the daughter of bakers. Best. Day. Ever!

“Hello sweetheart,” The woman behind the counter waved at them, “Who’s your friend?”

“Hi mom. This is Felix. He’s a new student and he just moved into the building too.” Marinette introduced them.

“Nice to meet you, Felix.” Her mom had the same smile as Marinette. “Did you stop in for some after school snacks?”

“Yes please!” Felix didn’t know where to start. Everything looked delicious.

“Hey Felix,” Marinette took his attention away from the cookies in the case, “I thought that since you had a lot of makeup work to do you might like some help. That is if you want it of course. I don’t mean to impose or anything.”

“No, that would be great. Thank you for offering.” Felix breathed out in relief. He had gotten a ton of catch up work today and he would need some help getting through it all.

“That’s my girl!” A man’s voice from the back carried to the front of the store. “Always helping those that need it. You kids take anything from the shop to eat while you study. Free of charge of course.”

“Thank you sir!” Felix called back.

Felix grabbed a few operas and some eclairs for himself after Marinette assured him that yes he could get whatever he wanted. Her parents loved to spoil Marinette’s friends with goodies.

“Is that what we are?” He asked, raising his eyebrow suggestively, “Friends?”

Her cheeks reddened a touch and she playfully shoved him. “Yes you dork.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him through the kitchen area in the back and towards the door. “Thanks, dad!” She blew a kiss to the large man in the kitchen before they stepped into the stairwell.

They climbed the steps up to the floor with Marinette’s apartment. Inside was cozy and bright. They set up in the living room and went over a few of the assignments Felix had received as they munched on their sweet snacks. Marinette even let him steal a couple of her macarons.

After a bit, they decided to take a break and Marinette asked him if he had ever played Mecha Strike. When he informed her he hadn’t something in her demeanor changed. Gone was the sweet girl who helped him to the nurse’s office and instead replaced her with someone else entirely. Someone who was mighty competitive if that mischievous grin was anything to go by.

Felix soon learned that Marinette was not just a competitive gamer. She was a merciless master! He could barely land a hit on her! You would think that she would go easy on him considering this was his first time but no! Oh no she was having way too much fun destroying his mech over and over and over again. At one point his anger got the better of him and he almost threw the controller through the screen. It was at this point they decided maybe it was time to cool down and get back to schoolwork.

Marinette went about completing her own homework while Felix tried to make a dent in his makeup work. All too soon it was late and Felix really did need to be going home as the eclairs were wearing off and hunger was setting in again. Time for ramen and Netflix...yay.

Marinette thankfully was having none of it and invited him to join her family for dinner. Her parents didn’t seem to mind the extra mouth to feed. If anything they were delighted to have a guest to dinner and assured him that he was welcome to eat with them whenever as they always made plenty of food for more than three people. Over dinner, they got to talking and Felix made an offhand comment about looking for a job.

“Well, you’re a handsome boy,” Marinette’s mom, Mrs. Cheng said, “Perhaps you could model.”

“Me? A model?” Felix laughed, “I don’t think that’s likely. I mean I’ve never thought about it but even if I had I don’t know where I would go to do something like that.”

“Well Marinette’s friend Adrien is a model.” Mr. Dupain said, “You could ask him.”

“Are you seriously considering becoming a model?” Marinette broke in as the voice of reason.

“I mean…” The more Felix thought about the more the idea didn’t sound so bad. He had always loved getting his picture taken as a kid and he was never one to shy away from media work. The first app he downloaded on his phone had been Instagram after all. “Do you think I would make a good model?”

“I think so. You are really handsome after all.” She said. The dawning realization of what just came out of her mouth hit her and she started shoveling more rice into her mouth to avoid further comments.

She thought he was handsome! Really handsome at that! Perhaps that was the universe paying him back for blurting out that she was cute earlier today.

Finally, it was time for Felix to go back to his own apartment. But not before Marinette’s parents invited him to join them for breakfast the following day if he so desired. Seeing as how the most nutritious thing he had in his apartment right now was instant ramen he was gonna take them up on that.

Felix went to bed feeling great. As the next couple of weeks went by Felix fell into a sort of routine. Wake up, get dressed, have breakfast at Marinette’s house, go to school, grab snacks at the bakery, do homework, hang out with Marinette, go back to his own house. Needless to say it was a pretty great routine. He was worried at first that maybe he was imposing too much on her family but no matter how much he tried to let them know it was okay to tell him to bugger off they never did. They were genuinely happy to see him and have him over at his house all the time.

He was also doing great at school. Besides becoming quick friends with Marinette he had also struck up a friendship with some of the other students. Mainly he got along really well this kid, Adrien, the model boy that Marinette’s parents had mentioned. He let slip that he was thinking of going into modeling himself and Adrien basically whisked him away to a modeling agency he knew where he was hired almost instantly.

It was a bit of a juggle doing modeling and school as well as trying to have a social life but Felix was doing just fine.

One morning as Felix was having breakfast at Marinette’s house her parents sighed. Marinette had yet to make an appearance even though it was getting to be late. “I’ll get her.” Felix offered as he climbed the steps up to her room. As he thought she was curled up fast asleep in her bed. She looked so peaceful...not for long!

He grabbed an unused pillow and whacked her over the head. “Wakey wakey, love! Time for school!”

“Noooooo.” Marinette burrowed further under the covers. “I don’t wanna!”

“Did you stay up late last night again?” He asked.

“Go away.” She mumbled sleepily, “Trying to sleep.”

“I’ll take that as a big fat yes.” He crawled into the space next to her and pulled back the blankets. “You gotta get up.”

“Says who?” She squinted at him.

“Says me and my associates.” He held up his hands menacingly.

“Felix…” Marinette started to sit up, “Don’t you dare.”

He smiled wickedly before descending upon her and tickling her sides. “You gonna get up now?” He laughed.

“You jerk!” Marinette tried to squirm away from him. “Quit it!” She grabbed a nearby pillow and hit him with it. “I’m up! Are you happy now?!”

“Yes.” Felix jumped down from her bed. “You are gonna make us late for school. Now get down to breakfast or else I will eat all the croissants.”

“Meanie butt.” She stuck her tongue out at him. She grabbed her outfit for the day and went behind the changing screen. “Oh, by the way, did Adrien talk to you about the joint photoshoot his dad wants you to do with him this weekend?”

“Yeah. I haven’t worked with Adrien before but I think it’ll be a lot of fun.” Felix caught the pajamas she threw over the side of the changing screen and tossed them in her hamper. “Do you wanna come with?”

“Am I allowed?” She stuck her head around the side of the screen.

“I’ll make sure you are. Besides, who can say no to this face?” He winked at her. She rolled her eyes and came back out now fully dressed.

“Dork.” She tweaked his nose. They descended down to breakfast. Felix slathered his own croissant in half a jar’s worth of Nutella while Marinette tried to tell him he shouldn’t be eating so many calories now that he was a model.

“I have a high metabolism. It’s fine.” He answered through bites of his croissant. “I also work out so I can have as much Nutella and as many eclairs as I want.”

“If you say so. Don’t come crying to me though when your abs are replaced with pudding mister.”

“Ooh, scary lady.” Felix teased. After breakfast, they went to school. Classes were fairly normal and went by quickly.

Felix and Marinette had decided to have a personal day inside to play video games and binge-watch their new obsession after school. The interactions between them Felix slowly started to notice had gone from friendly to very friendly. And when he said very friendly he meant that when he teased her own made a sly, borderline flirtatious comment, she returned it in equal. When he made a flirty comment he was being serious but he was having a hard time telling if Marinette was playing along or if her flirty comments were genuine too. It was eating away at him.

He had brought it up to Adrien one day when they got lunch together. Adrien was eleven spices of useless cause he was about the most oblivious boy on the face of the planet. But it had felt good talking to someone about it. He did mention that Marinette didn’t seem the type to intentionally lead someone on so there may be a chance she was actually flirting with Felix but there was no way to tell without asking her outright.

Felix couldn’t take not knowing anymore and decided that he was gonna man up and just ask her if she liked him and pray to god that he didn’t make a fool of himself doing so.

They were sitting together in Marinette’s room, sipping some tea she had made while they sat together on her bed. Her laptop propped on their combined laps to watch their show. They were in the middle of switching episodes and Felix decided it was now or never. “Um, Marinette?” He said, “Can I ask you something?”

“You know you can.” She paused the intro, “What is it?”

“I wanted to--well that is I was wondering if um…” Geez, this was hard. “I’ve been meaning to tell you that I--” Felix was cut off by the electricity cutting out. Really? Now?

“That’s weird.” Marinette tried turning on her lamp but it wouldn’t come back on. They pushed open the trapdoor leading up to the balcony and looked out over the city. The whole city had gone dark.

“Is this a blackout?” Felix asked.

“Looks like it.” Marinette sighed. “That’s a bummer.”

“Maybe not.” Felix tilted Marinette’s chin up to look at the sky. Not only was it a clear night but with all the light pollution gone they could even see more stars than they usually would.

“Oh wow.” Marinette stepped closer to the railing. A shooting star went streaking across the sky and Marinette started bouncing up and down with excitement. “Did you see that?” She turned to Felix with that wide smile he loved so much.

“I saw it.” Another star went by. “Maybe there’s a meteor shower tonight.”

“That would be amazing!” Marinette couldn’t tear her eyes away from the sky now. “Screw the show, this is a much better way to spend the night.”

“Thank you city-wide blackout!” Felix shouted to the dark city. Marinette lightly smacked his arm.

They grabbed their drinks from the room and stood by the railing watching the stars. He looked back at her. This girl with her beautiful smile and eyes full of wonder. The girl he had fallen for the moment he met her. She seemed to sense he was staring and turned to him. He gulped back at the embarrassment of being caught.

“Why are you looking at me like?” She asked. “The stars are up there.” She pointed to the sky.

“I have a much better view here.” Now it really was now or never. “Marinette, I’ve been meaning to tell you for a long while now but I’ve been too nervous and I figured that I had better say it now or else I may never say it at all.”

“Okay.” She turned her full attention to him. “What is it?”

Felix took a deep breath to try and steady himself. “Marinette, I really really _really_ like you. Not just as a friend but as something much more.”

“Oh?” Marinette had gone a little wide-eyed.

“Yeah. You’re great. You are funny and sweet and smart. You are the most talented and badass girl I have ever known and I want to spend more days with you. Not just as your friend but possibly as your boyfriend. That is if that is also something you would want cause it feels like you’ve been flirting with me for a while and I didn’t know if that was serious or not or what was happening.”

“Felix.” Marinette took his hands in her own. “I like you too.”

“Really?” His entire being was on edge right now.

“Uh yeah, I thought you knew.” Marinette chuckled, “I mean all of my friends think that we’re dating already so…”

“They do?” Felix was gonna implode. “For how long?”

“A couple of weeks.” She shrugged with a laugh. “Are you gonna be okay?”

“Yeah. Just processing.” He couldn’t stop smiling. Marinette liked him! She really liked him! He leaned in closer, pressing his forehead to yours. “Does this mean I get to do boyfriend things like kiss you and stuff?”

“I would say so,” Marinette said quietly. Her gaze flitted over his face and he noticed that her eyes drifted down to his lips a few times. “I mean, if you were wondering if I would like that then I would be inclined to say, yes.”

“Good to know.” He held her face in his hands and kissed her slowly. Deeply. It felt like he had finally come home in that kiss. “I’ve been wanting to do that for ages.”

“Me too.” She looped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for another. Felix couldn’t explain why but it felt like all of this had happened before. Maybe not exactly like this. But this moment here with Marinette in his arms...it felt like something out of a dream just barely remembered. A nice case of deja vu, if you will.

They turned back to look at the stars, arms still wrapped around each other. Marinette’s head on his shoulder and his cheek resting on the top of her head. “Seems kinda redundant at this point but do you have any wishes?” Marinette asked.

“Just one, love.” He held her a little closer. _I wish for this happiness to never end._

**THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was all she wrote! It was cheesy and fluffy and I regret none of it!
> 
> I will say it was a little tougher writing this sequel than I thought but I liked it too much to not complete it and I knew that there were people out there that wanted to see how this ended. So thank you to everyone for reading and leaving kudos and comments. You have no idea how much it means to me when I see other people enjoying what I write and just how motivating one little comment can be.
> 
> And if anyone was at all confused or wanted some clarification I did do a rollback of the timeline to when Felix and Marinette first met in Deal's End. But it is different because now Felix is fully human and free of the burden of knowledge of his past life. These kids have suffered enough and deserve some well-earned rest and cuddles and an overly happy ending dang it!
> 
> Once again just thank you all for reading! Sending you lots of love!  
> -Dakota


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